The future changes when you see it
by AndroidSister
Summary: Charles gets a premonition of the events of the film ahead of time. He can't recall everything he saw but keeps getting flashes a la associative memory trigger. Add in a creepy shadow that is clearly not dead, and who or what is Onslaught?  Cherik
1. A Rude Awakening

**The Future Changes When You See It**

Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything X-men related. You know that already anyway, so stop making me say it.

Author's Note: Okay, so before we get started, please note this is my first foray into X-men fanfic and it's only my second multi-chapter, so if I seem a little inexperienced that's why. Also, other than the movies, I've only read a handful of the comics when I was little, so I'm not super canon savvy. This is a First Class-canon AU though, so there's that. I make no promises about sticking with the other films. Now, without futher ado, I bring you Charles's Nightmare of Doom otherwise known as: the opening scene.

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><p><strong>Chapter One:<strong> **A Rude Awakening **

Events unfolded around him at impossible, breakneck speeds, so swiftly it should all seem to be an incomprehensible blur, but somehow it wasn't. He was experiencing it all, not just observing some passing ideas. He was bombarded by every sight, sound, sensation and telepathic impression invading his consciousness, an unattainable clarity just out of reach, as if he was sped up right along with everything else: this was his reality. Fast-forward was now the status-quo. It was all hurriedly tattooed onto his memory, and then suddenly, time slowed to a torturous lagging pace with the sound of a gun-shot- the movement of one gloved hand- an explosion of pain.

Charles cried out in agony as the bullet severed his spine. Then Erik was pulling him into his arms and cradling him to his chest as blood spilled onto the sand. He raised his other arm with fury and anguish radiating from him. Moira's dogtags sudenly became her noose.

"_You did this_!"

"_**She **__didn't do this, Erik. __**You **__did_."

Just like that, the fury was gone, leaving nothing but guilt and pain. Erik was trying to convince Charles to join him on his new quest, because they belonged together, because they wanted the same thing. But they didn't, not anymore. This wasn't his Erik anymore. No. Not _this_ killer. This was Magneto. The one who left him bleeding on the beach. His sister - abandoning Charles to join him? Charles couldn't even get up. He couldn't- He had no legs. Where were they? He could see them, but - he couldn't feel his legs! He seemed to see the panic cresting, breaking, receding with the little waves at the shore as the shock finally hit him. Moira, Alex and Sean were all crowded around him. They were trying to talk to him but their voices couldn't seem to reach him anymore. He was cold. Moira grabbed his arm but it didn't affect him at all. Nothing. He couldn't... He was broken. Nothing.

"CHARLES!"

What in the...?

"CHARLES!"

He felt himself being shaken but that wasn't right. He was...

"CHARLES! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

Erik? Everything went black. Then he shot bolt upright in his hotel bed crying out in shock, feeling as though he'd just been yanked forcefully back into his body. It was very disorienting, especially since he didn't remember leaving in the first place.

"_Scheisse_." Erik muttered unhappily, grabbing his friend's flailing arms before he could hurt himself. "Calm down, Charles! You were just having a nightmare."

"No." Charles insisted, shaking his head. He was still struggling against Erik's arms, although now it was half-hearted at best. "No, not that. No."

"Breathe." Erik ordered grimly. After one last tug of his shaking arms, Charles finally listened and collapsed against Erik's shoulder, taking in the much needed oxygen. "I saw..."

"Catch your breath first." Erik instructed, this time sounding almost gentle. There was silence for a while, filled by the sound of Charles trying to catch his breath, and a few muffled noises drifting in from the city outside. Charles took comfort in the familiar feeling of Erik's consciousness on the periphery of his mind and the buzz of the many others in the area around him. As he followed his breath in and out, it became gradually easier to distinguish between dream and reality, now and that nightmare time. He tried to collect himself as much as he could immediately manage, quickly processing what little he knew. By now he could tell the difference between an astral or telepathic experience and a dream. This had not been a dream. He didn't know what it was. He also had an odd instinct rising in him, telling him that maybe Erik didn't need to know. Perhaps it was safer if he wasn't involved. _Why not? _He considered this for what felt like an hour before he made his decision.

"I'm sorry, my friend. Did I wake you? I wasn't projecting, was I?" He asked innocently.

"You don't need to apologize, Charles." Erik said exasperatedly, "And no, you weren't."

Erik paused, studying Charles questioningly.

"You were... absent. I woke up and it felt like you just weren't there anymore. Then I felt pain that wasn't mine, and your panic."

Charles paled at that. The first bit was easily explained. He was out of his body, and thus he wasn't there to give off any mental impression, but the second part... Erik had felt his pain?

"Oh, Erik. I'm s-" He stopped short at the look Erik sent him.

"What happened to you, Charles?" Erik asked. Charles could sense his friend's concern and suspicion, along with a clearly protective note. Well that was slightly comforting.

"I don't know." Charles replied, deciding on the truth. "It felt real. It wasn't at all like my us- a dream."

Erik narrowed his eyes, speculating on the meaning of that slip.

"Thank you Erik. I believe I needed you to wake me. Whatever it was I've just experienced, it was far from pleasant." Charles added with a weak smile.

Erik stared at him.

"Perhaps-"

"No, I assure you I'm fine. I would rather we continued." Erik crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrows raised, and Charles flinched, realising his mistake. "I apologize. It appears that my mental barriers are still recovering. I did not intend to do that."

"Of course. Clearly you're in perfect health."

"This isn't the first time my shields have fallen, Erik. I've been through far worse than this before." He sighed at Erik's stubborn expression. He knew he couldn't win this one. "We have already come this far. It would be a waste of time simply to leave without at least speaking with him. I promise, I will mention this to Hank when we are finished."

Erik still looked like he wanted to argue, but thankfully he didn't. Eventually they both went back to bed. Charles didn't get any more sleep that night. He was far too concerned by what he'd seen in his not-nightmare. He could still feel the familiar hum of Erik's consciousness at the edge of his mind. His friend didn't seem to be getting much rest that night, either. Charles tried to ignore the knowledge that Erik was watching him. It wouldn't have seemed as creepy before his not-nightmare experience. He knew his friend was just worried about him, but he couldn't seem to get Magneto's sadistic smile out of his mind. Erik wouldn't harm him, intentionally. He assured himself. Erik was his closest friend, other than his sister, of course. He could still see her, walking away on that beach._ It wasn't real_. Charles tried to push The Beach far to the back of his mind. He saw a flash of hands covered in deep red. Blood. His blood. Magneto turning his back on him and walking away. Charles sucked in a sharp breath.

"Charles?" Erik finally addressed him, obviously still wide awake.

"_I'm going to count to three..." _Magneto's voice echoed menacingly through Charles's psyche.

Charles sat up stiffly. He had to get out of here. He grabbed some clothes out of his bag and briskly changed into them without looking to Erik's side of the room, barely remembering to keep his back out of view. Erik got up and switched the lights on.

"Where are you going? It's one in the morning and anyone can see you're exhausted."

"I'll manage. Please, don't stay up on my account. I'm sure I won't be long."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, actually. I suppose it doesn't really matter."

"I'll join you."

"_It's not that I don't trust you..." _Magneto's voice crept in.

"No!" Charles flinched slightly at how harshly that had come out. Erik stilled. "I'm fine, Erik. I simply need to clear my head."

Erik didn't say anything, but looked meaningfully down at Charles' hand holding his jacket. It was shaking, quite noticeably. Charles took another deep, steadying breath. This wasn't fair.

"As you said, my friend: it was just a nightmare." No one's buying it, Charles.

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><p>He wandered around the streets, quickly losing track of time. No, not lost, really. It simply wasn't there. It was as if his perception had been skewed dramatically without his noticing. He felt somehow disconnected from the flow of time. Cause and effect were just a concept. There was Charles: an observer, and then there was everything else. Even his own body felt... separate, an object. It was a strange experience, especially for someone like him. He'd always been so closely connected with everyone around him. Their impressions, emotions and experiences were an extension of his own, and now it was so warped and strange and <em>other<em>. He felt alien to his own world. He could have been out here for days or minutes for all he could tell, if it weren't for the fact that it was still night. What had happened to him? It must be some side effect of the not-dream. He wondered if it would wear off. It would really be best if it did- and soon, before he saw Erik again. He'd said he wouldn't be out too long. Was it time to return? He continued to walk without any thought of where he was going or why. Why? What is that? It had rained at some point. He splashed through a puddle watching the way the beads of water danced in the air. A door opened somewhere on the right.

"Charles?" That was Erik. _So he did return. How nice_. There was a pulling feeling in his mind so he looked where it led him, tilting his head up and away from Erik at a big bulletin board. _That's odd_. It almost seemed like it was moving. No, it was the shadow that was moving. A very, very dark shadow. Like a void. Something primal rose in the back of his mind, a warning. _Danger! Run! _The shadow swirled and spiralled like smoke, but pooling like a liquid where it met the surface of the sign. It was blacker than black. It felt cold. He sensed it! It was a shadow...without a source.

"Charles!" He jumped at Erik's hand on his arm, whipping his head around to face him.

"What?" He asked trying to catch his breath. He was out of breath? His pulse was like a sledgehammer in his chest.

"I've called for you five times. What had you so transfixed?" Erik asked, his expression beyond suspicious as he looked over Charles' shoulder in the direction he'd been staring.

"I was-" Charles began, turning to look back and stopping short as he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "It's gone."

"What is?"

"The- You know what? Forget it. My perception seems to be warped at the moment. It might be better if I simply returned to our room for the night."

Erik nodded, at least _appearing_ to accept this and they headed back to the hotel room to rest. Early in the morning when the first light was filtering into the room and Charles had finally fallen asleep again, he quietly slipped out to investigate. He stood in the spot where he'd found Charles practically frozen in place a few hours before. He wasn't yet sure what he was looking for, but his instincts were practically screaming at him that this was important. He knew by now that he should trust his instincts.

He looked thoughtfully in the direction Charles had been staring unblinkingly when he had found him, and carefully scanned for any clue as to what had gotten him so spooked. He tucked away every minute detail for later, but still nothing seemed 'off'. He let out a frustrated huff and was about to turn and head back inside when he caught sight of something 'off' at the base of the big billboard. What? _That_ was worth investigating. He briskly made his way over to it and confirmed what he'd seen. The area was lush with happy green bushes, profuse with shrubs and a handful of pesky flowering invaders, all thick and healthy... except at the base of the sign in the area immediately beneath, where all the plants were dead. Some plants had even turned black, but there was no apparent explanation. Is this what Charles had seen last night? Had this happened that quickly? He inspected some of the leaves more closely. These plants were uniformly dead as if every one of them had had the life drained from all its parts in the same instant. Everything around them was left perfectly untouched. After a moment's consideration, he took out his knife and cut off a small part of a drooping branch and a wilted black leaf and wrapped it in a handkerchief before tucking it into his pocket.

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><p>Charles rolled over groggily at the sound of the door shutting behind Erik. He made an indistinct sound in complaint and fell back to sleep with enviable rapidity. He had always been a fairly heavy sleeper. Raven had mentioned this to Erik during his secret phone call and nightmare consultation while her foster-brother was out 'clearing his head'.<p>

When Erik had mentioned it, her succint reply was simply...

_"Bullsh-"_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"He lied to you. He always does the same thing after he has one of his night terrors. He gets super clingy and oversensitive and becomes a complete cuddlemonster until I can manage to calm him down. He's been like that ever since we were little."_

_"Raven. He didn't fake the night terror. Perhaps his behavior is different when he's with someone else."_

_"Don't worry Erik. I'm perfectly aware of who I'm talking to. Your manly lack of cuddliness isn't enough to explain it. He was like that with Mom whenever I was out for the night, or failing that, whoever was most familiar. Hell, he even did it to Cain once when I was in the hospital overnight visiting..." Raven trailed off after that, sounding guilty. "Oh."_

_"What is it?"_

_"That didn't end well. The Markos were dicks. We've never let ourselves be separated again since Mom died." Raven explained, sounding depressed. "Maybe this __**is **__kind of different."_

_"I'll take care of him." Erik assured her seriously._

_"Yeah, you'd better." Raven threatened, but her heart clearly wasn't in it."If it happens again, could you call me right away? Lord knows, I'm probably the expert at calming him down by now."_

_"Of course..." Erik paused, mulling over her explanation."You make it sound like a common occurrence."_

_"Oh, um, well, it's not unusual, I guess." She replied uncomfortably "Look, if he hasn't talked to you about it...Shit!"_

_"Raven!" Erik rebuked. He strongly doubted Charles would approve of her foul language._

_"You know, I think I might have just accidentally woken Angel up. I should probably get off the phone." Raven continued, more or less ignoring him. "Just ask Charles, okay? I've gotta go. I'll see you two when you get back."_

Erik draped his coat over the foot of his bed before sitting down on the edge of Charles'. The telepath almost immediately confirmed his sister's claims by curling up around the new source of body heat. Erik felt the corners of his lips twitching upward in the beginning of a fond smile at the sight. Too bad. It was time to get moving. He reached out and gently shook Charles' shoulder. The younger man just made an unhappy sound and burrowed deeper into his warm cocoon. Erik shook him again. Charles just sounded more irritated but still inconveniently unconscious. Erik then began systematically peeling the blankets away from his head.

"Nooo... Hhhwhat?" Charles muttered unhappily as he finally woke. "Erik? Umnnngh..Issit time to go already?"

"Yes." Erik said, not quite managing to hide his amusement.

"I'm getting up." Charles yawned. "There's really no reason to look so thrilled about it."

"Ah, but you're so much fun in the morning." Erik teased. Charles blinked slowly at him in a vaguely harassed manner.

"Why don't you pack up?"

"I already did while you were sleeping."

Charles scowled at this news, looking horrified by the idea, and mumbled indistinctly to himself, his eyes still almost half shut. Erik picked up the cup off the bedside table and handed it to Charles.

"It's tea."

"Oh, thank you." Charles murmured and consumed it greedily. Luckily, Raven had been sure to explain to both Erik and Moira about Charles's zombie-like morning daze. Erik had therefore known better than to leave anything capable of causing damage, like hot tea, for example, within his friend's reach. He really did seem more than a little helpless in this state. Erik went over to his side of the room and sat on his bed, drinking his coffee and contemplating all his new information on Charles, and what he'd found underneath that billboard, while Charles got ready to go.

"I spoke with Raven while you were out." Charles started at the unexpected admission and nearly lost his grip on his suitcase.

"Did you discuss anything in particular?"

"You." Erik supplied smoothly. "She was suprised by your apparently unusual reaction."

"Precisely how much detail did you relay to her?" Charles inquired suspiciously.

"It was adequate enough. She claims you're quite the cuddler." Charles went from suspicion to annoyed embarrassment in seconds. He made his way over to the door and opened it with unnecessary force. Erik just calmly followed him out, he was the one with the car keys, after all.

"Of course she did. Embarassing childhood tendencies aside, what else did you two talk ab-" Charles huffed, agitated as he seemed to realize they didn't. "Dare I ask, why do you mention it?"

"She seemed to think you were being deceptive." Erik told him as they reached the car.

"I see. You think I was lying because I didn't cuddle with you." Charles deadpanned.

"No, that was Raven. I do think that you're hiding something." Erik explained patiently.

"I don't know you _that_ well." Charles remarked drily.

"You're deflecting." Erik pointed out. "Does this have anything to do with Cain Marko?"

Charles froze in the middle of tucking away his suitcase and straightened to stare Erik in the face. His expression was unreadable.

"Cain Marko." He repeated flatly. "Why did she mention Cain Marko?"

"He lived with you when you were children, didn't he? She seemed to harbor an intense dislike of him. I guessed that-"

Charles nodded stiffly and got into his seat before Erik could finish, looking more tense than Erik had ever seen him.

"I guessed right, then." Erik concluded, getting in and starting the engine.

"I don't dream about Cain. He's my stepbrother. He just wasn't too fond of me."

"How often?"

"They happen often enough." Charles said, fidgeting frustratedly. He could tell Erik wasn't going to let it go, and now that Raven knew, it would be even more trouble keeping his secret. "They stop for a while and then they come back. Each time I hope they've stopped for good but they always come back."

He hated lying, but for now it might just be better to let them think it was the usual terrors. He quietly pulled out the file for the next mutant they would be meeting. This one was a point of contention between them. They would be fetching him out of a prison, afterall. Charles' main concern was the boy's lack of options. He didn't want to force him to join them with the threat of further imprisonment. Erik, on the other hand, thought recruiting someone unfamiliar that had been convicted for the murder of his own family might be too trusting of them. Charles reminded him stubbornly that they had been accidental casualties of arson, and that this could possibly be explained by his abilities, and so on. Erik stayed silent at the sight of the manilla envelope, letting both issues drop for the time being. Charles quietly went over the file one more time. He just wanted to be prepared and to forget about his own checkered past. _So what is your story then? Who are you Alexander Summers?_


	2. The Prisoner

**Warnings(which I forgot to to post earlier, oops! Sorry!): This story will contain violence, swearing, mind bending, themes of child abuse, time-travel, and an AU Onslaught, along with hints of a post apocalyptic dystopia. (Most of these things will not appear in this chapter, but I thought you might like a heads up before we get there)**

A/N: Oh, I must first thank the lovely people who alerted this. I hope you enjoy this next bit. _Well,_ I hope everyone does, but you know what I mean.

(Also, there's a further Author's note at the end of the chapter)

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: The Prisoner<strong>

Charles and Erik walked side by side down the hallway behind the simultaneously relieved and suspicious prison guard. Charles' mental barriers were still flickering occasionally. He'd felt from the guard - Brian's, mind that he'd dealt with Alex, as the young mutant preferred to be called, the most out of all the guards. He actually felt sorry for the kid. From what Brian had seen, he was more afraid than he was dangerous. Brian couldn't be sure exactly what it was that he was so terrified of. Erik nudged Charles' arm, bringing him back to consensus reality. The guard was just explaining to them about Alex's idiosyncracies.

"He's the only guy I've ever seen who actually _prefers_ solitary confinement." The guard explained. "We've started just keeping him in there for the most part. It's easier on everybody that way."

The guard swung the door open for them and the young man inside looked up at them from his seat on the cot. He seemed understandably suprised by the unexpected visitors.

"Uh... Hi."

"Hello Alex." Charles replied warmly, stepping into the cell. "My name is Charles Xavier. This is my associate Erik Lensherr. We have an offer we would like to discuss with you."

Alex shot him an incredulous expression that echoed Erik's. He then turned to address said magnekinetic mutant.

"Is he serious?"

Erik nodded gravely.

"You do know I'm in here for a reason, right?" Alex asked. "And if that's why you're asking, you can forget it. I don't want to hurt anybody."

"We're actually here to talk to you about your mutation. I believe we can help you learn to control it..."

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><p>Marie was floating peacefully in that place between asleep and awake. She was a little chilly, the periphery of her brain informed her. She wondered why. It was only a fleeting concern. Whatever she was sleeping on was rather hard, not as comfortable as she would have liked, but she'd slept on worse. There was light glowing through her eyelids. <em>Francis must have forgotten to cover the window again. <em>She groaned and rolled over onto her other side and her arm flopped onto something slender and solid. The light was still shining in her face. Marie's eyes snapped open. The slender, solid object was a fallen branch, and the light wasn't coming in through the familiar cracked window of the warehouse. She was outdoors.

"I'm in the woods?" She asked no one in particular, looking around her. She remembered now. The fight, the deaths, that desperate run through the graveyard, diving forward to wrap her arms tightly around the very last of her family. It had been their only shot at fixing things. She looked around her for any sign of another person nearby. "Francis! Hey Cuz, are you out there? Hello?"

There was no response other than the running of a startled deer.

"Damnit! We must have gotten separated! Shit! Okay, calm down. So, what next?" Marie looked around her again but this time she was taking stock. "Okay, there should be a road nearby - which way was it? East. First find people. Then find him...and then I'm going to tan his sorry hide!"

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><p>Charles and Erik didn't get back to the base until late at night. Alex wouldn't be there until tomorrow afternoon. Erik looked over at his sleeping friend. He was shifting restlessly in his seat as he slept. That could just be because of the uncomfortable position he was in, pressed up against the car window. Erik parked the car and leaned over to wake Charles. As usual this proved a little difficult - amazing really; the car was hardly designed for luxury. He suspected the telepath could probably fall asleep just about anywhere without much difficulty.<p>

"Wake up, Charles." Erik ordered loudly, shaking his shoulder.

"Ghhhfff!" Charles replied with a start. "Oh. Of course, I must've drifted off... How long was I asleep?"

"Five hours." Erik said.

"Right. Thank you, my friend." Charles said, straightening his shirt and avoiding eye contact. _Another nightmare, then_. He opened his door. "Shall we?"

"You seem to have recovered well." Erik noted as they pulled their luggage out of the back.

"Yes, I do seem to have regained control fairly quickly. Perhaps that dream was only an anomaly." Charles tilted his head to the side, as if hearing something only he could hear. Considering the nature of his ability, he probably was. "Raven's awake... What did you tell her? She's been keeping herself awake in order to wait for us."

Erik shrugged noncommittally and they walked in silence toward the entrance. When they got to the hallway that led to the sleeping quarters, Charles abruptly dropped his suitcase and jacket to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked, raising an eyebrow as the younger man seemed to brace himself.

"It will become apparent soon enough." There was a soft pattering of running feet, and then a light blue and yellow blur collided with Charles.

"Hello Raven." Charles coughed, patting his sister on the back gently. "Not that I didn't miss you, but shouldn't you be asleep by now?"

Raven leaned back to look him in the face, resting her hands on his shoulders. She ignored his question and jumped right into her own interrogation.

"Erik told me about last night. How bad was it? It sounded bad. Which one was it this time?" She studied his face determinedly. "Or was it a new one?"

Charles looked over at Erik, who neither rescued him nor left them to talk it over alone.

"It was fairly unsettling, but I'm an adult now. I think I am perfectly capable of handling one bad dream."

"Two." Erik corrected helpfully.

"Yes. Thank you, Erik." Charles replied sarcastically.

"Don't mention it, Charles." Erik responded with a nod. Raven bent down and picked up her brother's discarded tweed jacket.

"Come on. We can talk about it back in your room." She informed him, tightening the belt of her light blue robe and turning to lead the way to the room he and Erik shared. Charles picked up his suitcase and glanced over at Erik, who looked slightly amused, and followed her.

After they'd tucked their things away and Charles had gone into the bathroom to change, Erik sat down on Charles' bunk to talk to Raven quietly.

"Something else is going on. Something strange."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, looking up from where she'd just tucked away the suitcase.

"I told you how Charles left shortly after I woke him?"

"Yeah. He said he wanted to clear his head. You know maybe you were right about that. I mean-" Raven stopped when he shook his head.

"When he came back he was acting... odd. He seemed as though he were delirious. I called to him, again and again, and he showed no sign of hearing me. He was just staring up at this billboard, looking terrified. When I snapped him out of it, he just brushed it off and went back inside."

"Okay..."

"I went to look in the morning before he woke up for what might have gotten such a response." Erik continued, pulling the sample out of his pocket to show her, "All the plants directly under that sign were like this. Uniformly dead, everything else around was perfectly healthy."

Raven stared at it with a shocked expression.

"That's impossible." She nearly whispered.

"Apparently not." Erik replied, taking the sample and putting it back in his pocket. "Also when we were driving to the prison to speak with the newest recruit, he reread the file again, going over all the data we'd already been briefed on. It seemed to be a strange thing for him to do, considering his photographic memory."

Raven didn't reply, lost in thought. She jumped when Charles opened the door and came back into the room, but quickly covered it. Charles paused, looking at them quizzically.

"Are you alright Raven?" He asked, looking suspiciously between them. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

* * *

><p>The next morning Erik strolled into Hank's lab as if he hadn't been up nearly the whole night, and promptly made the shy, young man incredibly nervous. He really needed to get over that. It wasn't as if Erik had actually done anything to freak him out. Yet.<p>

"Erik. What are you- What can I do for you?" Hank inquired, surprised.

"I have something for you to test." Erik told him and produced the handkerchief-wrapped sample. Hank narrowed his eyes for a moment before turning and unwrapping it on the table top.

"A dead plant."

"Yes. Very astute of you." Erik replied dryly. "I was hoping you could be a little more specific than that."

Hank looked over at him again, then at the plant, and back to Erik. "Dead witch hazel?" He asked, tentatively.

"Any ideas on the cause of death?"

"Are you messing with me?" Erik's expression told him all he needed to know. "Okay. I'll run some tests and get back to you. Unless you have something specific in mind?"

"I don't."

"Okay."

Erik turned to leave and then stopped.

"Has Charles spoken to you yet?"

"Yes. He's with Dr. MacLaughlin right now, but he said that he'd drop by here later so I that could run a couple of scans." Hank paused and turned to look at him. "Why do you ask?"

"Just finish those tests and get back to me." Erik replied shortly and left.

* * *

><p>"Oh, hey." Angel greeted as Charles entered the lounge. "I didn't think you would be coming back so soon. You even beat the new kid."<p>

"We're just stopping by. We've still got another few mutants left to contact." Charles told her, sitting in the comfy chair to her right.

"I was just consulting with Hank. He's going to do a few scans and..." Charles trailed off. Something about the window had snagged his attention out of the corner of his eye. It seemed to flicker, as if it couldn't decide whether or not it was there. Then he saw a big crack suddenly flash into existence. Smaller cracks slowly spread out of it as the glass began to vibrate. The frame around it groaned forebodingly.

"Professor!" Angel's voice snapped him back to reality. He blinked at the stationary, intact window before turning back to her. "I asked if you were alright."

"Oh. Yes, of course." Charles said, slipping on his practiced mask of polite, calm. "I'm sorry. That was terribly rude of me, but I'm afraid I'm needed elsewhere."

Angel relaxed, appeased by the pretext.

"Right. Telepath. No problem. I guess I still haven't quite gotten used to it." She said with a rueful smile, which made him feel ridiculously guilty. "I'll see you later."

"Yes." He muttered with a nod as he fled the room, slipping hastily past Darwin as he entered. The other man looked questioningly at Angel, who simply shrugged in response. Charles went into the bathroom and splashed his face a few times with cold water, trying to shock himself out of this wierd, panicky haze he seemed to be in. He paused, staring at his pale reflection in the mirror as the drops of water rolled off his skin. He couldn't help wondering if he was going mad. The door opened behind him and Erik stepped into the room.

"So this is what you absolutely had to dash off to do."

"It wasn't my finest moment." Charles admitted. "How did you find me?"

"Looking." Charles just watched Erik's reflection expectantly. "Your right trouser pocket."

Charles reached in and pulled out, the car keys..

"You planted these on me this morning!" Charles accused.

"Clearly." Erik replied unapologetically.

"Why are you tracking me?"

"Why are you behaving so strangely?"

"I'm tired." Charles lied. He really should have realized by now how hopeless he was at it.

"You're panicking." Erik countered. "I know you saw something. I know there's something more going on. I just don't know why you're lying about it."

_**Don't you trust me? **_Erik's thought drifted unspoken between them. Charles drew in a deep breath and began to dry his face, before turning back to Erik. His grey eyes shone silver with sudden anger.

"You don't trust me." He said aloud, his voice low and even and terrible. Charles opened and closed his mouth, uncertain of what he should say. Erik turned and stormed out of the room. Charles hurried after him.

"Erik wait. I..."

"I stayed here because of you. I was set to leave and continue after the man I have spent my life tracking, but _you_ convinced me to stay. I barely even knew you, but you claim you know everything about me. You said we could work together and _I trusted you_. I believed you."

"Erik..." Charles pleaded, sensing the distressing theme in his friend's thoughts. "Please, you weren't wrong."

Erik began to walk away again, obviously unconvinced. Charles chased after him and grabbed his arm.

"I do trust you, maybe not with everything-" Erik snorted and looked away, but Charles just kept going. "But I trust you. I just.. I'm not sure if I can trust myself."

Erik looked back down at him, narrowing his eyes.

"Tell me."

Charles' mind screamed at him again. _He can't know about the not-dream! _Charles could barely remember it now, anyway. He also knew that he absolutely could not stand Erik leaving now.

"I'm not sure where to begin."

"What did you see that night?" Charles looked confused by this so Erik clarified. "When I was calling you. What were you staring at?"

"Oh. I'd rather not let anyone else hear about this..."

Erik nodded and led him back to their room. When they got there, Charles immediately began to pace. Erik just made himself comfortable on Charles' bunk and watched him.

"I've had night terrors ever since Raven and I were children." Erik crossed his arms impatiently. "I'm getting to that bit. I've only ever told her what I saw in them. I don't like other people to know. Sometimes Kurt is in them-my stepfather- but oddly enough, those are the mild ones. The others are more common and much more abstract. I'm usually back in the mansion where we grew up, sometimes Raven's there, sometimes I'm the only one in the whole estate and then I notice the shadow. It's a shadow without a source, and as I look at it, it begins to move. It cancels out the light around it, like looking at pure nothingness, only it's somehow alive. Sometimes Raven tries to protect me and it takes her too. When it's just me I can feel it draining me until there's nothing left of me but a corpse, and I'm still trapped inside... But that night... I wasn't asleep and I saw it! It was just hanging there in front of the banner!"

Charles dropped down on the bunk next to Erik's feet and ran his hands through his hair. Erik moved forward until he was leaning over Charles. He studied the younger man's face for a moment seriously before he finally spoke.

"Thank you for trusting me with this."

Charles froze for a second, shocked at hearing those words from Erik. He wasn't the 'please and thank you' type. Then Charles seemed to shrink in on himself as the reality of the situation returned to him.

"I'm losing my mind." He breathed, sounding lost.

"No, you're not." Erik disagreed immediately.

"You didn't see it, and you were standing right there next to me."

"You see and hear things that others can't all the time, my friend. That does not make you insane. It makes you special."

Charles didn't reply, he just stared somberly at the bunk above them.

"I know you aren't insane, Charles. So stop torturing yourself." Erik insisted adamantly.

"Perhaps it's just stress." Charles admitted. "If it isn't, there will be far less pleasant things to consider. You may have to-"

"I told you, you're fine." Erik cut him off irritably. "What did Raven tell you? She must have had a similar opinion."

"I don't want to worry her until I'm certain it's necessary." Charles informed him, still staring at Erik's bunk. Erik stood stiffly and held out a hand. "Get up."

"What?" Charles questioned taking his hand and letting himself be pulled to his feet anyway.

"I know you're not insane because I have proof. I will have even more when McCoy's scans show nothing out of the ordinary other than your telepathy."

"Ah, of course, and what proof would this be exactly?"

"I went and checked the area where you'd been standing while you were still asleep and I found proof there - it wasn't just in your mind." Erik explained. "All the plants directly underneath that billboard were dead in a very artificial looking pattern and everything else around them was perfectly healthy. I remember when we passed it on the way in and it was not like that before."

"That's strange." Charles replied. Erik smiled.

"Says the telepath to the metal-manipulator."

When they got to Hank's lab, Erik went into silent intimidation mode. Charles tried his best just to ignore him and reassure the very nervous Hank. It didn't entirely work but at least Hank looked less like he might bolt at any minute. As they did the scans, Erik loomed over the whole procedure, watching Hank like an extremely menacing hawk. On the third scan Hank finally gathered enough courage to address him.

"So is there any particular reason you decided to stick around?"

"Yes." Erik answered unhelpfully. Okay, so he might kind of enjoy messing with the kid. It wasn't Erik's fault, really. Hank made it way too easy.

"I started tests on those dead plants you gave me." Hank ventured, watching the screen.

"Have you found anything interesting?"

"Not sure yet... Hey, wait a minute."

"What is it?" Erik demanded immediately.

"Did you just do that?"

"Do what?"

"Were you using your ability just now?"

"No."

Hank leaned forward and turned on the microphone, tilting it toward him.

"Hey Professor can you hear me?"

"Yes Hank. I can hear you perfectly."

"How are you feeling in there?" Hank was already typing something into the machine.

"I feel alright, I suppose. Is there a feeling in particular you'd like to check?"

Hank was staring at the scans closely now, his eyes flitting back and forth as he processed the new information. He seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Tell me, what temperature is it right now?"

There was a long, uncertain pause. Erik glared at Hank expectantly.

"Professor?"

"That's odd.. I'm afraid I can't tell." Hank sighed grimly and gestured to the screen.

"No tactile stimulation. His sensory receptors are completely inactive, it's like they've just switched off."

"Um, Hank has someone just come in? I feel..."

The screen in front of them became a mosaic of bright, patterned light, and an alarm on the console beeped urgently.

"No! No!No!" Hank shot up out of his seat. "We've got to pull him out!"

Erik immediately did so, with a flick of the wrist. They both rushed over to Charles' side.

"Professor, can you hear me? Professor!" Hank questioned, leaning over the struggling telepath.

"What's happening?" Erik shouted over the noise, putting a hand to the side of Charles' face to stop him from hitting it on the edge of his cot. "What did you do?"

"There was an alien pattern on the scanner! I think someone's trying to get into his head! I didn't do it!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you all for reading this! I know I forgot to ask you before, but I really do want to hear what you guys think of this, so please review. I'm still pretty nervous and it would really help me to have some feedback.


	3. Doppelganger

**Chapter Three: Doppelganger**

Charles opened his eyes inside the scanner as light after light went out around him. It was silent in the lab. He could feel Erik's and Hank's presences still, but they were fading, as if he was drifting farther and farther away. He took a deep, calming breath and realised he could see his breath clearly when he exhaled, indicating frigid air. He was suddenly thankful for his newfound insensitivity.

"Oh, please. Do take your time. I'm sure we've got all day." Said a surprisingly familiar voice, sarcastically. The familiar someone was yanking him out of the machine with admirable grace, paying no mind to the frozen metal sticking to his bare skin. Then Charles was staring up at his own face smirking down at him. He studied his double suspiciously.

"Who are you and why are you wearing my face?" He inquired as he sat up, wincing as his double pulled his hands away from the metal with the expected results.

"Well, someone's feeling grumpy." Not-Charles remarked, oblivious, then pretended to consider the question. "Hmm. First, it's a secret, and second, because it amuses me."

"That hardly seems fair." Charles replied. "You've already forced your way into my mind without the slightest warning. The least you could do is tell me who I'm speaking with."

"Twice actually." Was the casual response. Charles hopped off the cot, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

"Yes, alright, fair enough." The stranger conceded, straightening up. "Let's just say I'm an old friend. No, that's not right. I'm new to you now, aren't I? I'm more like a new-old friend."

"A name would be much more helpful, actually."

"I'm not sure you're ready for that just yet, but I am an ally, I assure you. I'm trying to help you, but I can't if you keep blocking me out." Charles walked around his 'new-old friend' surveying him thoughtfully. His mind gave off an impression of youth that made Charles think he was probably younger than he was letting on. A teen maybe, clearly very intelligent and very powerful, even if his telepathy was lacking a certain finesse... _a secondary mutation?_

"That was you, then. Wasn't it? That strange dream I had back at the hotel." He theorized, watching as the other man lounged on his abandoned cot, leaving one leg dangling lazily over the edge.

"Yes, yes. I admit, I did the psuedo-nightmare, which shall hereby be referred to as the 'not-mare'. I confess! I showed you your unfortunate future." Not-Charles held up a finger enthusiastically. "_But_ I had a good reason. I was being _helpful_ this time, and I am therefore not the least bit repentant."

Charles raised an eyebrow at that, already unbelievably relaxed around this oddly familiar intruder.

"Are you ever repentant?" He asked quizzically. Something was giving him the impression that-

"No." A beat. "I'm helping! Enjoy it."

"You're rather eccentric, aren't you?" Charles inquired, slightly amused.

"Definitely." The other agreed with a short nod. "Just remember my warning."

"But it's already fading!" Charles protested.

"It'll come to you... and **don't block me out**!"

"Wait!" Charles cried as everything around them began to deteriorate. "Where are you going?"

"Wake up, Charles." Not-Charles prompted patiently, and just like that, he did.

"Charles!" Raven exclaimed as he shot up into a sitting position in medical. Her eyes flashed yellow for a moment in surprise as she grabbed his shoulders. "Hey, easy! Easy! It's just me."

"Raven." Charles acknowledged, falling back onto the mattress. He patted her arm lightly. "I'm in the medical section. What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Raven asked worriedly. They both heard Moira and Erik arguing loudly as they came closer. The doors swung open to let them in under Erik's silent command. They stopped arguing abruptly when they noticed Charles was awake.

"The scanner." Charles recalled aloud. "I was in the scanner when he contacted me."

"Who contacted you?" Erik said, joining Raven at his bedside.

"Another telepath." Charles explained calmly. "He wouldn't tell me his name. I believe he was trying to warn me about something."

He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the information he'd gotten before, but it remained stubbornly just out of reach. He made a small irritated sound.

"I'm sorry. The connection wasn't entirely reliable." Charles informed them, picking at the IV in his arm until Raven swatted his hand away. "He might try again later. He seemed very determined to get a message through."

"Maybe you could track him down using Cerebro." Moira suggested.

"No." Erik, Charles, and Raven all replied in unison with varying levels of heat to their tone. Moira raised her hands in surrender.

"He made it clear to me that he did not wish to be found. If he feels me reaching out to him with Cerebro it is quite possible he may vanish before he tells us anything." Charles explained. Then considering the others' reaction, he turned to Raven and Erik. "How long have I been out?"

"Six hours." Raven said unhappily. "We kept trying to wake you up, but they said that after the first hour you were 'completely unresponsive to stimuli.'"

Charles nodded, considering this, and flexed his hand experimentally.

"He _was_ projecting." He concluded. "I don't believe he does it purposely, but he seems inexperienced with his telepathy, despite his impressive reach. I got the feeling he was fairly young."

"And that explains your coma?" Moira inquired doubtfully.

"Yes; he can't control how much of his experience he's sharing with me at once. That's why his entry was so jarring even when he was taking his time to consider the effects of the transition."

"He put you in a coma." Raven pointed out, sounding unimpressed.

"No. I thought it was an invasion at first as well. I couldn't figure out why else he would mask himself in such a manner, but that's exactly it. He didn't. _I_ wasn't the one who couldn't feel anything. _He _was. When I was knocked out, we were still connected and his insensitivity was unintentionally transferred to me."

"How can you be sure?" Erik asked patiently.

"Frozen metal." Raven narrowed her eyes quizzically, so he continued. "Whether on the astral plane or on this one, survival instincts are much the same. I avoided the frozen bars despite my numbed state because I remembered the pain they could cause. He..." Charles winced, remembering the unpleasnt image. "didn't."

"Ew." Raven commented as she imagined the implications with unfortunate accuracy.

After another night of monitoring Charles, Hank admitting that there was nothing he or the nurses could find that was out of the ordinary now, he was released to continue on the mission. Erik and Raven, however, were still watching his every move, as if they were afraid he might vanish into thin air the moment they stopped. At present Charles and Erik were stopping by Hank's lab before they left. He had informed Erik via Angel that he'd found something interesting in the sample. Raven watched in amusement from her seat next to Hank's worktable as he rushed up to them.

"Angel says you've found something." Erik prompted, after Hank had greeted them _both_ amiably, which was strange in and of itself. He was buzzing with energy and enthusiasm.

"Sugar." He replied as if that explained everything. "Or well, actually the lack thereof." Charles smiled fondly.

"Could you please expand on that a bit?"

"Plants survive by converting carbon dioxide into organic compounds, mostly sugars. Even in a dead plant there should be some traces of this. The sample you gave me is completely devoid of sugars." Hank explianed rapidly. "More importantly, when I took a look at the photosynthetic membranes under a microscope, they were completely shredded! It's as if the nutrients were leeched out of the plant so rapidly, it destroyed the cell walls in the process! I've never seen anything like it!"

Erik nodded stoically, digesting what he'd just heard, then caught Charles' puzzled expression. He was looking over Hank's shoulder at Raven who'd gone deathly pale.

"Raven?" Charles called, but she just jumped up out of her seat muttering 'Sorry' and fled the room.

"Excuse me." Charles said quickly to the others and chased after her.

* * *

><p>Marie pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down as she entered the bar. She would need to find a change of clothes sometime soon. She realized that now that she was in 1963 -as her ride here had informed her- her black leather jumpsuit and oversized navy blue hoody would look anachronistic. It was also much warmer in the current time, having gone from autumn to summer in one night. She walked up to the bar ignoring the curious stares of the patrons and took a seat on the loneliest possible barstool. To her annoyance, a big muscular blond man, who smelled of sweat and beer, promptly moved over three stools to sit next to her. He was indisputably far too close as he more grunted than spoke his obnoxious pick up line.<p>

"Well hello cutie! What brings a sweet thing like you to a place like this?"

"Travellin'" Marie replied shortly, silently praying he would get the hint and go away. He didn't.

"Oooh, and a Southern Belle. Isn't this my lucky day! Hey Bill, come on and get this girl a drink on me." He called out to the middle-aged bartender, who had just come back into view. Marie sighed. She didn't have any money and she needed help. Why did help have to be so gross? She turned back to him, trying to seem more friendly and less disgusted.

"What'll it be cutie?" Her revolting helper asked. She swallowed and turned to the bartender.

"Scotch on the rocks." He raised his eyebrows but poured her the requested drink all the same.

"My names Maurice. Maurice Barker, but you can call me Mo." Marie forced a smile.

"People call me Rogue."

* * *

><p>"Raven love, slow down, please!" Charles called hurrying after his fleeing sibling. She finally did slow down, but kept on at a brisk walk. He fell into step beside her watching her too-pale face worriedly.<p>

"What is it?"

She shook her head in response, now seemingly unwilling to look at him. Erik had come out into the hall and was watching from a little ways behind them, keeping at a respectful distance.

"Raven please, what's wrong? I haven't seen you this upset since..." She suddenly snapped lazer-sharp eyes to his face, watching him intently, as he cast about for the specific incident. "Well, for years now, I imagine." He continued, as the event itself completely eluded him. Once again, he seemed just to brush off the lapse as if he were simply incapable of seeing the strangeness of it. Raven looked up into his eyes for a moment before taking a deep, steadying breath and pulling him into a hug.

"I want to go with you this time."

"What? No, you shouldn't. We'll be back soon enough. It's safer for you here with the others."

"I know. I don't care. It's _you_ I'm worried about." She watched him with big pleading eyes. He fidgeted slightly, struggling to resist. It wasn't fair to use the Look on him. He opened his mouth to attempt a protest but she spoke first.

"You're not okay, Charles. I just want us to stick together and look out for each other, just like we promised. Remember?"

_A flash of her vanishing in that swirl of red and black smoke on The Beach invaded his vision for a split second._

He blinked and swallowed, trying to push it back again. He still wasn't convinced it was real.

"Of course I remember, but I promised to keep you safe too, and besides that, you can be of help here, making the others feel more relaxed and included while we're gone."

"Here, where there are guards." Raven added skeptically.

"Well, yes, that too." Charles admitted

"I'm not actually a kid anymore Charles." Raven reminded him. "You don't always have to shield me from the terrible perils of the outside world."

"Yes I do. That's my job as your big brother."

"And I am in no way offended." She shot back sarcastically. "You are also not older or-"

"nor" Charles corrected reflexively, Raven glared and continued.

"...bigger than me anymore so your argument is fatally flawed."

"Bigger than I," Charles persisted unwisely.

Raven slapped him on the shoulder. "Grant my point!"

"Only if you can prove it." Said Charles, primly. Raven crossed her arms over her chest pouting. A thought suddenly occured to her and she looked hopefully back toward the lab. "No Raven. You are still not coming with us."

Damnit. She went right back to giving him that look again. He was in serious trouble.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Okay, so woohoo! Another chapter finished! Another character introduced! I feel pretty good about this one, even if it was a little nerve wracking to write...whatever. Anyway, thank you all for reading this and I would like to give special thanks to MakeusMarble and EvilChick13 for reviewing. Also this may sound kinda weird but I have decided to put it to a vote whether or not in this timeline Raven gets to come along with them to try and recruit the next few mutants. I hope that isn't too strange but I thought it might be a fun idea. I'll put a poll up on my profile so you guys can vote on it. I'll give you guys about a week before the poll closes .That way I'll be able to write the next chapter without taking way too much time between posts.


	4. Trouble

**Chapter Four: Trouble**

Charles stared through his car window at the passing scenery. He could hear the occasional fluttering of papers from Raven in the backseat as she went over what little information they had about the next three mutants on the list. They barely had anything other than the names and locations that Charles had gotten from his time in Cerebro, and what little Moira had been able to scrape together through her agency resources. Raven now seemed determined to have it all memorized by the time they got to the hotel. _Well, at least she's enthusiastic._

"She is, isn't she?" Charles jumped at the unexpected response. Raven looked up at him questioningly. The shuffle of paper ceased. He looked around the car for his doppelganger.

"Hello again." He greeted quietly as he noticed his reflection raising an eyebrow at him. It didn't quite match up, looking more like he did around age nineteen or maybe twenty. Not-Charles rolled his eyes at him.

"You know, you really are something. I mean, here I am going out of my way to warn you of your impending doom and what do you do? You bring along the one other person you can actually remember is going to betray you. Do you want to fail? Is that it? Just for future reference."

"I'm not entirely convinced." Charles replied. Not-Charles shrugged.

"You saw it yourself."

"You seem quite partial to skewed perception. I'm not sure I can believe anything that you show me." Charles informed him calmly. Erik's eyes flicked over at him tensely.

"I _am_ in your head Charles, remember? I can tell when you're bluffing. You know it's the truth even if you don't want to admit it." Not-Charles shifted so that he was casually leaning his head on one arm. "And you do trust me. You just don't know why."

"Not over them, never more than I do them."

"You should."

"Charles?" Raven asked worriedly, reaching out to rest a hand on her brother's shoulder. He reached up and placed a hand over hers.

"You forced your way into my mind and refused to tell me who you were-"

"A friend."

"If you want me to trust you more, you are going to have to give me something more to work with." Charles persisted with the patience of someone accustomed to dealing with difficult children. "What's your name?"

"If you can't trust what I say, why believe the name I give you is real?" Not-Charles shot back snarkily with an annoyed smile.

"Then leave me alone." Charles replied shortly, and Not-Charles receded with an irritated sigh.

"What just happened?" Raven asked

"The other telepath was pushing my boundaries a little too far. He's backed off for the time being but I doubt it will last." Charles explained.

"We cannot continue with an unknown outsider invading your mind like this." Erik pointed out tensely.

"It's nothing that dire. I haven't had to force him out so far. He's not so much a threat as he is irritating."

"I still don't like it." Erik insisted.

* * *

><p>Meeting Sean Cassidy went smoothly enough, after perhaps the shortest disagreement Charles had ever witnessed in his life. Charles and Erik had agreed that Raven should stay on the sidelines and observe while they handled this next mutant recruitment. She had wanted to jump right in on the first go and do this one with them. Charles had assured her that she could help on the next one. She had insisted. That lasted all of a minute. Apparently, Erik was somehow completely immune to the Look. So Raven had stayed back discreetly observing, from where she stood at a nearby aquarium window, just close enough to hear them while they went through their usual routine with almost instant success.<p>

"That didn't look so difficult." Raven said as they left the aquarium.

"It is not always so simple."Erik informed her as he unlocked the car. "This time we were meeting someone who was willing to be found. He was far less dangerous than he could have been."

"Yes, who needs ear drums anyway?" She replied wryly. Sean had been quite excited to show off and had used his ability to shatter a glass bottle Charles had been drinking from while they talked, with less warning than was readily necessary for such things. Their ears still hurt a little from that one.

"He did apologize." Charles reminded her.

"It would have been far more painful if he had not been so pleased to see us." Erik added as they got into the car. Raven fidgeted a little as the cold seat touched the exposed skin on her leg. It was almost dark now, and was getting breezy and cool. _Next time, maybe not a mini skirt._

"I get it Erik. Trust me. I just want to help. Maybe I'll be better at this than you think. Shape-shifting isn't all I can do you know." She told him. Erik looked at her appraisingly, curiosity piqued. Charles quickly intervened.

"I would rather avoid conflict if possible. There's no reason to expect a fight, nor should we engage in one when there is the option to retreat, Raven." She shot him a stubborn look and not because of his naivete, which was a shame. "No, I am not saying that because I doubt you. We are here to offer these people an opportunity to work with others like them, and that is all."

"Okay." Raven replied a little petulantly. Charles sighed but let it drop. They were all tired. It was best not to push it.

* * *

><p>"That went well." Charles remarked, opening his suitcase on the bed in front of him and pulling out his sleepwear. Erik nodded. "If you'd like to use the shower first..." Erik shook his head and pulled his shirt off. Charles cleared his throat, looking away before heading to the bathroom. "Alright then."<p>

"Back at the aquarium when we were leaving..."

"Yes Erik?"

"There seemed to be something more to your disagreement with Raven than you wanted me to hear."

Charles sighed running a hand through his hair.

"It's not... " Charles shrugged and turned back to face his friend. "Let's just say she's stronger than she looks. I don't want her to think that she needs to prove how tough she is. It wasn't that I meant to hide it from you."

And with that, Charles went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, out of sight of his suspicious magnekinetic friend, as he did every night regardless of whether or not he showered. The night of Charles' nightmare in fact, had been the only time Erik had ever seen more of Charles' body than an exposed wrist or that strip of skin on his ankle after his ocean rescue. It reminded him a little of those uptight nobles in the Victorian Era getting all hot and bothered over the tiniest glimpse of a fair lady's well... ankle. _Shit._ It had been bad enough how hard a time he'd had trying not to stare outright on the night in question. He really shouldn't be thinking about Charles like that, let alone comparing him to Victorian ladies. Charles might hear it and that would be beyond awkward. Yes, _that's_ what was awkward.

* * *

><p>It was one o'clock in the morning when Raven was snapped awake by the unfortunately familiar sensation of her brother's panicked mind reaching out to her in his sleep. She quickly rolled out of bed and shoved her shoes on, grabbing her robe on the way out the door. She went over to the room next to her and only had to knock once before she heard the locks disengage in unison and let herself in. Erik was sitting on the edge of Charles' bed holding the younger man's arms as he thrashed in his sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>Charles ran down the dark corridor in Xavier Mansion, calling out for Raven or Mother or anyone. There was no one there wherever he looked. Where had they all gone? Why had they left him? He had a terrible feeling of dread, like the feeling he'd gotten just before the men had come to tell them that Father was never coming home again. He had to find his sister. He had to warn Mother that it wasn't safe.<p>

There was someone watching him. He could sense them clearly, but when he looked, he could find no one. Exhausted, he slowed to a walk, and that's when he heard her. His mother, humming a pleasant tune just as she'd done for them when they were little, before Kurt had come and changed everything. She always used to hum songs to them, never lullabys, always some song that would remind them of her later on whenever it played on the radio. Strange, he couldn't identify this one. He followed her voice back to the library.

There she was. Scrawny little thirteen-year-old Raven sat in the chair by the fireplace that was facing him, a sheet of pale golden hair falling over one chocolate brown eye as she studied the chessboard. Mother must be sitting in the other one.

"Hey Charlie, Cain's been looking for you." Raven told him moving her knight into position.

"Cain?"

"Yeah, he wants his textbook back. He also thinks you're a hopeless nerd." She informed him casually, as she tucked her hair back behind her ear.

"Thanks for that." Charles replied sarcastically, wondering why his mother hasn't commented at all. She just kept humming.

"Just relaying the message." Raven replied, studying the board._ That's odd_; he didn't see Mother make that move. He'd been looking right at the chessboard.

"Of course, Love. Who's winning?" He says, walking towards them.

"You are, Silly." Charles narrows his eyes at this, then he feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to look, expecting to see Cain, but there's no one. Then Raven screams and jumps out of her seat, knocking over the table in her haste. The unfinished chess game falls to the floor. He looks down to see what she's staring at and his blood runs cold. He has two shadows. One is too dark, it begins to swirl like smoke even as it pools against the carpet. Raven grabs him by both arms and pulls him close. She tries to shield him as it rushes forward.

"Leave him alone! Mom! Cain! Stop him!" She shrieks and then she's gone. The shadow forces its way into his mouth, pouring in through his eyes, his nose, burning cold in his throat, and then he's lying still on the floor. He has no choice but to stare unblinkingly at the chess set and the two empty chairs. He can't move, even to blink or to breathe. He is a living corpse. Alone in a dark, empty mansion.

* * *

><p>"He's not waking up this time." Erik explained. Raven took a deep breath and sat down on Charles' other side, carding a hand through his damp locks.<p>

"Hey, shhh." She whispered focusing on keeping her mind as calm and open as possible. Thinking of warm, happy memories from their childhood together. "Charles it's okay. I'm here." His thrashing became somewhat less violent, but he was still obviously terrified, so she reached down, resting her hand against his temple and projected more comforting thoughts and images towards him. Finally he stilled and opened his eyes.

"Raven?" Charles whispered, his voice rough.

"Hey."

He sat up immediately and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Hey, shhh. You're okay. You just had another nightmare." She assured him, rubbing his back soothingly. He held onto the sleeve of her robe a little tighter. "I'm not going anywhere. It was just a bad dream."

"Sorry." He mumbled into her shoulder.

"None of that." She reminded him.

"Erik." He added. Erik and Raven looked at each other. Raven rolled her eyes.

"As she said, Charles. You have no reason to apologize." Erik informed him. At some point he had slipped a T-shirt on. How he'd managed it without Raven even noticing him move was beyond her. He was just that sneaky.

* * *

><p>Marie had reluctantly accepted the offer of a lift from Maurice, the dodgy helper she'd met in the bar. He was clearly far too interested in her, and for all the wrong reasons, but he was heading north and so was she. She hadn't been able to find any available alternatives so she had accepted. So far he hadn't caused her any trouble and she was confident that if worst came to worst she could probably manage an escape. She'd been in far more dangerous company before, after all, she assured herself. Although she'd also had an ally or two close-by during those times, unlike now.<p>

"Here we are now, Cutie. This is our stop." He rumbled bringing her out of her thoughts. Oh, ugh! He was staring at her chest again. She'd better make this quick. She looked out of her window, taking stock of the area as he finished parking his truck. It was dark out by now, so her dark clothing would give her a slight advantage if she had to pull a disappearing act. There weren't really any people around as far as she could tell. That was not a good sign.

They were parking at another rustic looking bar. What a shock. She was already fairly certain that 'Mo' was a raging drunk as well as a pervert. She tied her hair back, considering her next move, when she heard him get out of the car. She began to swing her door open, but he quickly came round to her side and slammed it shut again. So she locked her door. He grinned disturbingly. As he pulled out his keys and began unlocking her side, she scrambled over to the driver's side. Locked. She got it open just as he reached in and grabbed her leg, pulling her back towards him.

"Let me go!" She shouted, hanging onto the side of the driver's seat to keep away from him. He just laughed.

"You don't think you're gonna take all I've given for nothin', now do ya?" He said dragging her towards him across the seats.

"I said get the fuck off of me!" Marie shouted back, kicking him as hard as she could so that he momentarilly lost grip. She quickly scrambled through and out the other side of the truck.

"You're gonna pay for that, you little bitch!" He growled chasing after her. He was well over twice her size, over six feet tall and built like a heavy weight champ. Marie was accustomed to her smaller size and had learned long ago how to use it to her advantage.

She ran over to another line of cars, looping around to head towards the bar. She swiftly dove under another truck in a somersault when he got too close. Popping up on the other side, she ran behind the car next to it, not giving him a chance to get a clear view of her. She knew this guy really didn't have a chance against her even if he caught her, but she was understandably averse to the idea of using her power on him. The last thing she needed was to feel residual echoes of this bastard's consciousness in her head.

She saw one of the doors to the bar start to open and took her chance, running across the lot towards the entrance. She almost made it before he grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her chest and lifting her off of the ground. She didn't hesitate to start screaming at the top of her lungs as she struggled like a wild thing in his grip. Hell, if she weren't too concerned about triggering her ability she'd probably have bitten him already. Luckily, for both of them, really, someone heard her. She didn't even register anyone else had come by until Mo was dropping her with a choked grunt of pain. Someone had punched him hard in the side of the head. She didn't even waste time looking up to see who had saved her, just scrambled away and out of reach as quickly as she could.

"Hey asshole! Why don't you mind your own darn business!" Mo snapped at her savior and she heard some scuffling sounds.

"You'd better back off, Bub." Warned a startlingly familiar voice. She turned her head to look, half-anticipating the metallic sound she'd grown to expect would accompany such a warning tone.

"Logan?" She whispered in surprise. He looked pretty much the same as always. Maybe a little younger, but not by much. How old _was_ he? She'd never really thought about it until now. Mo had just said something incredibly stupid, but she wasn't really paying enough attention at that point to catch it. He lunged at Logan, probably assuming he'd be easy to take down, and she knew the claws were about to come into play. _Yes, there they are. _Needless to say, they gave Mo pause.

"What the hell _are_ you?"

"Beat it, Bub." Logan suggested with a challenging glare, as if daring him not to. Mo finally did the smart thing and fled for his worthless little life. Logan retracted his claws and absently wiped his knuckles with the cuff of his shirt. Then he turned to her.

"You alright, Kid?" She couldn't quite stifle the smile in response to the familiarity of the phrase.

"I am now." She replied, as he helped her up off the ground. "Thanks for savin' me."

"No problem." He dismissed as usual. His eyes narrowed slightly. "How'd you know my name?"

_Shit._ She should have known he'd hear that. She had just been so completely surprised to see him here... and now.

"Um... Well it's kind of a long story. I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you."

He studied her for a moment before coming to a decision.

"You hungry, Kid?" Marie nodded. "Come on, I'll get you something to eat. Then we can talk."

She smiled and fell into step with him.

"My name's Marie." She informed him happily. It was good to have him back.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N**: Okay yeah, I admit that ended a bit abruptly. I needed a stopping point, so um... yeah... Anyway, my beta recently brought it to my attention that some parts of the narration might be a little perplexing at times for those reading this delayed increments, so I'll try to clear this up here and now. This story is being narrated by a thus far unidentified character, that is the reason for those seemingly anomalous little asides that pop up every once in a while and clearly aren't the thoughts of Charles, Raven etc.(who's thoughts I usually italicize) Sorry if that was weirding anyone out. I will expose the narrators identity. I'm just experimenting with a little ambiguity first. Thank you all for reading this and special thanks to EvilChick13 and Sen2TOS9 for reviewing and to those of you who voted on the poll. Wow, this is one long freakin' author's note! I should stop. Please review. Okay, I'm shutting up now.


	5. Friend or Foe

**Chapter Five: Friend or Foe**

Charles finally extricated himself from his improvised pillow-nest a half an hour before Erik and Raven would've had to coax him out anyway. They had both been up ever since his nightmare had awakened them, despite his (admittedly weak) protests. He hadn't actually wanted to let Raven out of his sight ever again, but also felt guilty for causing them concern. He quietly made his way to the bathroom to change, grabbing clothes out of his suitcase distractedly as he went. A moment after he began to brush his teeth, he heard a sharp tap at the door behind him.

"Oh, right." He mumbled opening the door and taking the shirt Raven wordlessly held out to him. "Thank you."

"Yep." She aknowledged with a little nod and headed back over to lie on his abandoned bed. He went back to brushing his teeth, then heard Erik heading out and Raven's presumptuous shout of...

"Coffee! Thanks!" He should probably say something to her about that demanding tone at some point. Using it with him was one thing, but others, like their Nazi-hunting magnetic friend for instance, probably didn't appreciate it.

"Feeling better, then?" Charles jumped, and looked at his reflection, now Not-Charles, with slight irritation.

"Yes actually. I would, however, prefer that you stopped doing that."

"I was just being friendly. Besides, I waited a while for you to notice. It's not my fault you were being thick." Not-Charles replied defensively. "You had another nightmare, a real one. What was it this time?"

"Why..." Charles began to ask him before realizing the unlikelihood that a useful explanation would be forthcoming. "You're in my head already. You tell me."

"You said I shouldn't do that." Not-Charles informed him simply. "You think it's rude or something."

"When did I do that?" Charles asked, surprised, and debated whether or not he should wait to change into his clothes.

"Previously... ish." Not-Charles hedged, then rolled his eyes. "Oh, just go ahead! I already know about your back. It's inconsequential to me."

There was a silent pause while the two of them considered each other.

"About your name..." Charles said as he began to change. His _doppelganger_ crossed his arms defensively. "I understand your need for anonymity-"

"You can't, but do continue."

"-but I still need something to call you." Charles finished, ignoring his double's rudeness. The rascal regarded him thoughtfully before answering.

"I suppose you can call me Onslaught. No one's heard that name yet."

"Onslaught." Charles echoed, considering the strange moniker.

"Better than Professor X if you ask me. That's just pretentious."

"What?"

"Never mind; you'll get there eventually. This next mutant you're meeting with is a bit dodgy. I should know more about her. I've got nothing, just a nasty coctail of negative emotions. It doesn't bode well. You should trust me on this."

"I will keep that in mind." Charles assured him. "Onslaught."

* * *

><p>Marie and Logan sat together in a booth at the back of the sparsely populated bar. After scarfing down the roast chicken dinner that Logan bought her like the starving young ruffian that she was, Marie did her best to explain as much as she could. Logan studied her silently over his own, half-eaten dinner. His expression shifting from guarded concern, to surprise, to disbelief, topping it off with a look of skeptical, concerned incredulity. Which was really quite a thing to see.<p>

"..so I managed to absorb his ability and transport myself and my cousin Francis back to this time. I wasn't really all that sure it would work, but at that point we didn't really have a choice. I had no idea when to aim to, but Francis was adamant that he knew. He's a telepath-sorta. He got all his Daddy's memories, like, downloaded into his head or somethin' when he was little, so he knows a lot of history and stuff, first hand, that he probably shouldn't. According to him, somethin' really big is going to happen this year. He called it a 'Watershed Event' or somethin' like that. We're supposed to go and find the others' younger selves in New York so we can make sure to change what happens, but we got separated somehow, so I don't know how well that's likely to go down. Hopefully, if we get get it right, we'll even be able to stop the Great Purge years before it can even begin. World War Three'll never happen and none of us have to die this time around. You gonna eat that?"

Logan just blinked at her before shaking himself out of his bewilderment.

"Sure kid, go ahead." He said, pushing his plate across the table to her. She dug in hastily with a muttered 'thanks'. "Jesus! When was the last time you ate?"

Marie paused for a moment to consider this. Then after attempting to calculate the amount of time and coming up against the issue of time travel vs. internal clock, she gave up and shrugged helplessly.

"I ended up giving my last two portions to Francis before we left." She explained. "It's a lot more dangerous for him to go without and I haven't eaten anything since the jump...unless you count a glass of scotch, I guess. Hey, don't look at me like that! I've gone a lot longer than that without food or rest and besides, this is probably the best meal I've eaten in years - and definitely the safest I've been."

"So... Let's say I believe you about all that crazy time travel, apocalypse bullshit. What's your plan? You can't expect to just track down your old mutant buddies and have them instantly trust you."

"That's why it's going to be harder to do without Francis' help." Marie admitted "He would at least be able to pick up on any hint of danger, or warn me if their moods went nasty on us. I've gotta admit, I might have gotten a little too used to that, but I've still gotta try now don't I?"

Logan popped a cigar into his mouth and lit it, considering everything he'd just heard.

"One of the mutants I'm looking for is a powerful telepath." Marie continued. "He should be able to sense that I'm here to help, though that could be a problem too if he sees too much."

"And here I was hoping you might have known me in the past."

"You've lost your memory already?" She asked taking a sip of her beer. "I hadn't realized it happened so soon. I guess your claws should have clued me in on it."

His eyes were suddenly boring into hers intently.

"You did talk to me a couple times about what they did to you, and I got some of your memories in my head still from when you had to revive me, back when I was seventeen. It's not much but I promise I'll tell you what I can when I can. I've just gotta be real careful not to screw up the timeline."

"What do you know?" Logan said gruffly, leaning towards her over the table.

"It's not much, mostly just what you told me when you and Mystique came to bust me out of... listen we really shouldn't talk about this here. I promise you, I will tell you everything I can. It ain't right keepin' secrets like that from someone. Everyone deserves to know who they are and even if I didn't believe that, I never wanted to keep secrets from you."

* * *

><p>The next mutant on the list was a reclusive young woman named Jamie Moss. They were headed to her cabin right now, almost there. Charles tried to relax but he felt uneasy about this one. Her response to him when he'd found her through Cerebro had been... off. She had known he was there instantly and had seemed strangely amused by it, in an almost condescending way. This morning's warning had only added to his unease.<p>

"Stop squirming Charles. It's driving me nuts." Raven ordered without looking up from the folder in her lap. Jamie Moss' no doubt.

"What is it?" Erik asked, eyes flicking over him, briefly. "Is the other telepath bothering you again?"

Charles shook his head and took a deep, steadying breath, just as the cozy little log cabin came into view. Raven put away the file she had been reading and watched him expectantly.

"It's this woman we're here to meet with... Something happened when I reached her during my time in Cerebro. Something about her telepathic signature was... troubling." Erik parked the car and turned to flash him a stern expression.

"You're telling us this now?" Raven asked indignantly, voicing Erik's thoughts.

"It could be nothing. We don't know much about her after all and it could easily be nothing more than a side effect of her mutation." Charles defended.

"But?" Erik prompted, recognizing the look on his friend's face. Charles deflated a little.

"This morning when I was getting ready, the other telepath did contact me again. Apparently Onslaught tried to contact her as well and he had a similar impression."

"Onslaught?" Erik asked blankly. Raven smirked.

"That's what the other telepath wishes to be called." Charles explained. Raven's amused smirk grew into a grin. She touched Charles' shoulder putting on a straight face.

"So tell me, Charles. This is important. Does he or does he not wear a cape?" She deadpanned. Charles smiled slightly at the mental image she projected to him.

"I wouldn't know if he did, actually. He only ever appears as a projected duplicate of myself. I haven't the slightest idea what he looks like." He admitted. Erik looked incredibly displeased with this news. "Listen, I simply think we should be more careful with this one. It might be nothing, but if it isn't, I'd rather not be caught off guard."

"Fine." Raven agreed immediately "But I'm coming along this time. Don't even try to make me stay in the car because it isn't going to work."

"What do we know about this woman?" Erik inquired after deciding to ignore the others' silent staring match.

"Jamie Moss, age 31. Has a short criminal record having been arrested but not convicted of: fraud, assault and battery and two instances of public indecency. The most she has ever been found guilty of was not paying a parking ticket on time. Her mind has a rather jarring effect on telepaths that come in contact with her... Oh, and from what I could tell, she has quite a high I.Q." Charles recited easily. "Other than that we don't know anything about her."

"We also have this picture." Raven added quickly, holding up a photo of a spritely blond woman, with a stylish pixie cut.

Erik considered Charles for a minute before looking over at Raven.

"Raven and I can handle this one." He decided aloud, " You can use your telepathy to monitor us from here in the car."

"What? I don't-" Charles protested, but Erik ignored him, turning back to address Raven.

"You will follow my lead, understood? At the first sign of danger you will head straight back to the car and wait for me."

Raven frowned at the percieved condescension but nodded.

"And I don't get any say in this now, do I?" Charles put in irritably.

"Nope." Raven replied as she and Erik got out of the car. Charles watched them unhappily as they walked away up the gravel drive heading towards the cabin.

"You know I actually agree with them on this one. Who would've guessed _that'd_ happen, eh?" Onslaught remarked from the driver's seat.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Charles asked as Erik knocked on the door. Raven was talking to him quietly, jokingly informing him that she was not some Fair Maiden and that he was definitely no White Knight.

"Oh, please don't mope. It's off-putting." Onslaught replied dismissively as he watched Erik knock a second time. "Aha, here we go." He added as a petite, towheaded, blonde finally answered the door.

* * *

><p>"Good evening Miss Moss, I'm-" Erik began as pleasantly as he could, only to be cut off by the harmless-looking woman.<p>

"I know who you are. Where's Xavier?" She demanded impatiently, leaning against the doorframe, looking like an amazingly irritable, pixie tomboy. Raven's mouth dropped open slightly at that. No one ever interupted Erik Lehnsherr.

"He thought he would let _us_ speak with you first." Erik deflected smoothly. Moss narrowed her dark blue eyes at him.

"You're either lying or doing a hell of a job stretching the truth. No one decieves me. It just doesn't work, so don't you waste your time trying." He raised his eyebrows, at that. Raven wondered if that was part of her mutation, or if perhaps this was all just some strange dream she was having.

"I can see the truth on your face. So..." Jamie Moss explained, popping up on her tip toes to lean in closer as her eyes scanned Erik's. Then she dropped back down and looked at Raven. "Why are you here and not Xavier?"

"Why? Don't like us?" Raven quipped, earning a glare from Erik.

"It's not about liking anybody. You want to recruit me onto your little team, right?"

"If you wish to join us, yes." Erik confirmed.

"We can help you master your mutation if you need it. We're special too, like you." Raven said as Miss Moss shrugged on a jacket.

"You wanna help me, you'll tell me where Xavier is."

Erik stiffened slightly at her tone. Charles had been right, something was wrong here. Raven opened her mouth and then shut it, looking unsure. Moss tilted her head to the side slightly, studying her face. Then she straightened, looking past them to the car.

"Why are you so interested in Charles?" Erik inquired tensely. She looked up at him but said nothing, then Raven's eyes widened and she grabbed his arm.

* * *

><p>Charles and Onslaught watched the others talk to the short, slender, blonde standing in the doorway. It was clear from skimming their minds that they were feeling surprised and confused, but so far there was no sign of a threat.<p>

"Why don't you just look and see what they're talking about? You have permission this time anyway." Onslaught suggested. Charles looked over at him, debating it for a moment before reaching out for Erik's mind. He got about as far as the surface thoughts before he began to feel tired and strained, as if he were over exerting himself. After trying one more time and still coming up short, he let out a sharp breath and reeled himself back in. Onslaught was staring at him intently.

"I don't know why that didn't work! I can't reach any farther than the surface."

"It's her." Onslaught concluded. Charles looked back at the three still talking on the front step. Jamie Moss looked past the others in his direction and his double continued. "Oh! So that's it! That's why I couldn't-"

Charles saw Onslaught's image flicker like a dying flame out of the corner of his eye, getting a milliseconds glimpse of pale skin and straight, dark reddish-brown hair before Onslaught simply wasn't there. He couldn't even pick up the strangely familiar signature tinged with the slight scent of ozone that he'd become accustomed to over the past few days. Now that he thought about it he couldn't feel the others at all, either. He was alone in his head. He snapped his gaze back to the cabin and tried not to panic. The sight that met his eyes made that significantly more difficult.

* * *

><p>"Why are you so interested in Charles?" Erik asked suspiciously. Raven watched the other woman closely, feeling sure there was something very wrong about the way she was looking at them. Then she felt it. Every psionic mutant, telepathic or not, gives off their own distinct signature. She'd had Charles teach her how to pick up on them when they were kids and she had never stopped since. This one was nowhere near as refined as that of a telepath, she felt a low subliminal disruption drifting through her consciousness, it was a constant irratic buzz, like white noise. In the blink of an eye she'd thrown up every mental defense that Charles had taught her. She saw the corner of Moss' pale mouth twitch upward in a smirk, and grabbed Erik's arm to warn him but it was too late. Their bodies went completely limp at the exact same moment. Moss had used some sort of psionic wave to paralyze them. The other woman stepped uncaringly over Raven's motionless form.<p>

"Thanks a lot, Blondie." She said coldly, not even sparing them a glance. Raven watched her head towards the car, and then closed her eyes, putting all of her focus into strengthening her mental defenses. She had to push back that white noise. She had to get back control, even just a little, before it was too late.

Moss turned back around as she reached the car, noticing that Raven had shifted back into her scaly blue form. It was enough of a distraction for Charles to act, and he opened the car door, smacking her in the side with it. She stumbled back and glared at him. The white noise grew louder. Charles darted around her to go check on the others, putting his fingers to his temple as he forced the signal out of his head. He couldn't block it out completely but it was enough to make it manageable.

"What did you do?" He demanded dropping to his knees next to his sister's still form.

"Neat trick, isn't it?" Moss mocked with a vicious grin. "It's too bad it doesn't work on your kind. It'd certainly make my job a lot easier."

"Your job?" Charles echoed as she strolled toward him. "What job?"

"Well in this case..." She explained, as she reached behind her back for something under her jacket. "You."

It was a revolver. She checked the cylinder before popping it back into place. Raven jerkily reached up and grabbed his sleeve, causing Moss to raise an eyebrow.

"Raven!" Charles exclaimed as Moss pulled back the hammer on her gun.

"Rruunn." Raven forced out, panting. Charles hesitated, ducking the first shot before letting out a frustrated cry and running for the tree line. The next shot barely missed his head as he darted into the trees.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Whoo! Another chapter done. A shameless cliff-hanger accomplished. I'm feeling amped! Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. Special thanks to my lovely reviewers Sen2TOS9 and EvilChick13. As always I crave reviews. They help me, they really do, so tell me what you think.


	6. Adapt to Survive

**Chapter Six: Adapt to Survive**

Charles dropped down onto his stomach and crawled under a fallen log, trying to catch his breath. He was quite talented at hiding after his less-than-ideal childhood, but he'd never had to go without his telepathy like this before. He tried over and over again to reach out and contact a mind, any mind, to call for help or just to assure himself that the others were alright. That damned static effectively blocked any chances of that. The most he could do was push the buzz to the periphery so that he could focus on his escape. He heard Moss getting closer and shifted the fronds of the fern in front of him to mask himself from view, pressing deeper into the shadow of the toppled tree. She glanced in his general direction and he held his breath, forcing his mind to go blank on the off-chance that she might be able to sense his mind.

* * *

><p>Back by the cabin, Erik and Raven were finally getting some feeling back in their limbs. The scaly blue mutant grunted as she rolled and grabbed onto the side of the porch, forcing herself up into a seated position. They were both shaking as the pins and needles danced through their entire bodies, but at least they were regaining control. Erik mirrored her movement a minute later as she built up the strength and courage to attempt to stand.<p>

"You made that look a lot easier-" Erik gasped, trying not to flinch at the pain that shot up and down his spine from his efforts.

"I was more prepared for this than you were." Raven growled as she tried stubbornly to stand. "The benefits of having..." She stumbled and barely caught herself in time. "A telepathic brother."

"Indeed. I will need to have a long talk with him about that after this is over." Erik declared as Raven searched the area around them.

"How are we going to stop her? We can't get close to her or that weird... " She gestured vaguely at her head,"...thing that she's doing is going to take us out again and Charles is going to be completely defenseless without his telepathy."

"I'll just have to take her by surprise then." Erik concluded, pushing himself up off the ground.

"We." Raven corrected. "And that might not be good enough to stop her."

"We had an agreement." Erik growled, looming over her with a rather intimidating scowl. Raven swallowed but persisted.

"And I only agreed because Charles was-"

"Do not argue. You are wasting time." Erik snapped, his eyes flashing angrily. "Go sit in the car. I will be back after I handle Moss."

Raven bit her lip, feeling torn before she stomped back to the car in a huff, watching sourly from the passenger's seat as he streaked into the darkening treeline.

* * *

><p>Marie had finally fallen asleep on Logan's couch about an hour after he'd left her lying there. It's a strange thing how unsettling safe, comfortable surroundings can be after such a long time on the run. She knew intellectually that Logan wasn't going to let anything happen to her, but her instincts were on the alert nonetheless, snapping her awake at the faintest sound. She could occasionally hear him moving about upstairs, obviously not yet ready to settle in for the night, either, but that wasn't at all unusual for him. It was that thought that had finally let her sleep.<p>

_**Eindringling, **_a familiar monotone suddenly announced within her mind. Marie's eyes snapped open as she jerked awake with a gasp.

"Francis!" She called out reflexively, her dark eyes scanning the area around her. Logan came down the stairs soundlessly and raised an eyebrow at his suddenly chalk-white houseguest.

"Bad dream?" He asked, coming into the room.

Marie shook her head, pushing the blankets off of her as she quickly sorted through the various unpleasant scenarios the unexpected message had brought to mind.

"Somethin's wrong. Francis just tried to contact me." She explained distractedly. "It was a proximity alert, like he used to use when we were all still hidin' on the outskirts."

"There's no one else around here. I would know." Logan assured her.

"I didn't think so. I don't think he's got enough control to pick anythin' like that up at this distance. He can't even read people all that well, unless he's already real familiar with them, mostly just family." Marie admitted, still puzzling over the new mystery. She huffed in frustration. "He had to've sent it for a reason! I'm just not sure what it means!"

Logan considered the question for a moment before responding.

"You said you used someone else's ability to get here, right?" He suggested. "Maybe he followed you."

"Tempus? No I'm pretty sure he's dead." Marie dismissed, then realized how blase she had sounded and looked a little sick. She jumped up off the couch and left the living room, fussing nervously with the cuffs of her gloves. "_Eindringling... Eindringling... _What was that again?"

They ended up in the kitchen and Logan put on a pot of coffee as she leaned on the counter.

"Interloper!" She exclaimed. "Maybe he's tryin' to warn me we've got competition."

"You speak German?" Logan inquired, looking incredulous.

"Me? No, of course not. He does." Marie corrected, as if it were obvious, then as an after thought, continued. "And Spanish, and French, and Polish, and Hebrew, but mostly English or German."

"Of course." Logan remarked, looking unimpressed.

* * *

><p>Erik padded silently through the forest, now in full-on kill mode, all senses on high alert for any indication of either Charles or the blond bitch that was after him. He had pulled out the hunting knife that he'd been keeping hidden on his person ever since they'd left base (he kept a gun with him when at the base, naturally). He was more than ready to slit Moss' throat with it for threatening his Charles. How sweet.<p>

There was a rustling sound over on the right. He turned, poised to strike, just in time to see Charles go streaking by with surprising speed, headed back out of the forest. He was about to call out to him when he saw Moss running into view and taking aim. _Oh, HELL no!_ Erik threw the knife with perfect aim, nailing her right in the shoulder. The shot went wide, missing her target by a mile, and she dropped the gun with a cry of pain. Erik pulled his knife back to him with his ability and she dropped to her knees with a choked gasp. She looked up, glaring furiously at him. His mind erupted with that terrible white noise and he stumbled to one side clutching his head. She picked up her revolver with her uninjured left and walked over to him as he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She stood over him for a moment, staring down at him icily. His writhing slowed to a stop as paralysis swept through him once again. She aimed the gun at his head.

"You made me bleed." He was saved from certain death by Charles' panicked shout.

"Erik! No!" Time seemed to slow down as Moss whipped around just when Charles came within range. A shot rang out, followed by the heart-stopping sound of Charles' body dropping limply to the ground. Erik sucked in a sharp gasp as he stared, transfixed by the still body of his first friend since the camps, and the dearest person to him since his Mother's murder. Moss, uncaring, checked her gun and then sighed, picking up Erik's knife off of the ground and heading over to inspect Charles' corpse.

She looked over the still form at her feet. He was lying face-down on the ground, not even moving enough to breathe. She nudged him with her foot to see if he wasn't quite dead yet. No reaction. She rolled him over with a firmer nudge, then knelt down for a closer look. The ground under him was clean. She looked over his chest for a wound. His hand came up before she could react and grabbed her wrist.

"I am sorry." Charles assured her before the other hand grabbed the side of her face and she was overtaken by a garbled rush of impressions and sensations. He wasn't exactly hurting her, but he was certainly headed there. Erik jumped up off the ground as soon as he'd gotten his limbs back and hurried over. Moss was beginning to push back and Charles grunted with effort, never looking away from her equally determined face.

"I can't keep this up much longer." He ground out as Erik reached them. The magnekinetic simply nodded, and in one lightning fast movement, he had their attacker pinned to the opposite tree with his knife pressed to her throat.

"Son of a-" Moss began but he cut her off.

"Who sent you? Was it Shaw?" She glared, but Erik just pressed the knife a little harder against her throat and the static died back down.

"Who wanted you to kill Charles?" He demanded, she clenched her jaw, still unwilling to talk. So he pressed the handle of his knife into her wounded shoulder, causing her to scream.

"Erik!" Charles protested, standing quickly and moving to his side.

"Tell me!"

"I don't know his name!" Moss finally surrendered. Erik studied her face before moving to press the knife in again. "No no! Wait! I don't know his real name! I only know what the others call him! I swear that's all I know! That's all!"

"Who is he?"

"He calls... He calls himself The Shadow King. I don't know why he wants Xavier dead but I knew better than to say no. He.. He _takes_ people that don't obey. They never come back."

Erik stared her down with a wild look in his silver eyes.

"Erik." Charles warned, his gaze flicking back and forth between the two of them.

"She knows something." Erik argued.

"Sorry, to break this to you, Handsome, but you'll never be as scary as he is." Moss informed him, looking him straight in the eye. He growled and a drop of blood dripped down from the blade he pressed against her throat.

"Erik, please!" Charles exclaimed. There was a long, tense moment in which none of them moved. The only sound was that of their harsh breathing.

"Fine." Erik finally ground out. He pulled his arm back and knocked her out cold.

Charles let out a relieved sigh and stumbled back to lean against the tree behind him. For a moment he'd been certain Erik was about to kill her. Suddenly Erik was standing in front of him, checking him over for wounds with a worried look on his usually stoic face.

"I'm alright." Charles murmured. Erik didn't halt in the slightest. "I'm alright. She missed. I'm alright. Erik!" Erik finally looked up at his face. He reached out to touch Charles' cheek where a bruise was beginning to form.

"I thought she had killed you." He said in an ever-so-slightly trembling voice. Charles reached up and grasped Erik's hand, giving it a little squeeze.

"Oh, Erik." He pulled Erik into a hug. "I am sorry. I am so sorry."

Erik just held Charles tightly to him like a lifeline, still trying to assure himself that this was real and vowing that he would keep a much better watch over his friend from now on.

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel all three of them were crowded into Charles' and Erik's hotel room once again. Their checkout was being postponed for now, due to the situation with Moss. Moira and a couple of other suits had headed over to deal with her almost as soon as they'd called in about it. Raven and Charles were sitting next to each other on his bed while Erik paced.<p>

"Erik, it's alright. Please calm your mind. You're beginning to project some rather nasty images, my friend." Erik stopped pacing and concentrated for a minute.

"Thank you." Charles said sounding relieved. Raven looked at him questioningly but he shook his head.

"Of course we're worried Charles. Someone's trying to kill you. That woman Moss almost succeeded." Raven informed him somberly.

"She didn't, and now that we know, we will be more prepared for future threats. Besides, I highly doubt he will send someone else after me so soon after Miss Moss' capture." Charles reassured her calmly.

"Who?" Raven asked as the phone began to ring.

"I believe that's Moira." Charles announced, going over to answer the phone. He explained the basic gist of what'd happened to her before holding out the phone to Erik.

"She wants to speak with you."

"Speak." Erik commanded brusquely as he took up the phone.

_"Charles says she was sent after him and that you're the one that interrogated her." Moira responded smoothly, getting straight to business._

"Yes, I did."

_"I figured as much after seeing the state you left her in. How much did she tell you? She won't talk."_

"Not enough. She was clearly trained for this. I couldn't get much out of her about her employer. She claims not to know anything more than some absurd alias. He apparently refers to himself as the Shadow King." Erik said, becoming curious as he noticed the way Raven seemed to pale slightly at the name. "Charles is certain she's telling the truth."

_"Shadow King, got it. I'll look it up when I get back, see If I can find any mention of him in the archives. Okay, well, we're pretty sure we can handle it from here, so you guys can go on and move out... Unless any of you want to return to base. It would be completely understandable if you did."_

Erik caught Charles' eye and he immediately shook his head.

"No, thank you." He declined before turning to his now very alert sibling. "Raven perhaps you should..."

"No, I'm okay." Raven replied quickly and the two instantly launched into another silent argument.

"Understood, Agent MacTaggart. We'll call in later when we've arrived."

_"Alright, good luck."_ Erik hung up, watching Raven as she shifted in her seat. She glanced up and their gazes locked. She knew she was caught. He could see it in her eyes.

"How about we get something to eat before we go?" Raven suggested quickly, not looking away. Charles looked up from the old, battered text that he had just retrieved from his suitcase.

"Hmmm. I suppose we should. We haven't had any dinner yet." He agreed.

"Great!" Raven said with forced cheer. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Erik made sure to finish packing his things in record time, long before Charles was ready to go. After tucking his things away in the rental car, he headed straight for Raven's room. At least he knocked, once, before barging right in.<p>

"You do know that the whole point of knocking is for you to actually wait for my permission _before_ you enter, right?" Raven remarked wryly, folding her clothes and placing them in her bag.

"You know something about the man that's after Charles." Erik stated accusingly, ignoring her comment.

"Really? What makes you say that?" Raven asked in a surprisingly steady tone. Then again, she did have a talent for mimicking different voices._ It figures she'd be a good actress. _Erik grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him.

"Listen, Little Girl, this is not some game we are playing. Charles' life is in danger and I will not allow you to withhold any information about the enemy." He growled, his tone low and dangerous. "Tell me what you know."

"Let go of me!" Raven demanded, trying to pull away.

"Tell me what you're hiding." Erik insisted. Raven's eyes turned yellow as his grip only tightened, and then she stopped struggling altogether. She stared stubbornly into his eyes, her jaw set.

"I'm not telling you anything. Any secret I may or may not be keeping is between me and Charles, and it'll be a cold day in hell when I tell you anything before I tell him." She said furiously, her voice splitting into two voices halfway through her speech as her control faltered further. "Now let me go before I call my brother in here and tell him all about how the big, scary Nazi-hunter was threatening me."

Erik hesitated for a brief moment before he backed off, glaring down at her all the while. Raven casually straightened out the sleeves on her dress.

"That's what I thought." She concluded in her usual voice, turning to pick up her bag. "Don't worry. I won't mention it if you don't." She assured him, walking past him and out of the room. She leaned against the side of the car and let herself have her own little mini panic-attack once she was positive she was out of his line of sight. _Shit,shit,shit! What the hell am I going to do now?_

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:**Okay, so thank you all for reading this. It ended up being a little shorter than I'd expected but... Oh well, I hope it still pleases you, anyway. Special thanks to Sen2TOS9 for reviewing. I really would like to hear what you all think of this, so please feel free to review. Also if anyone reading this speaks German and wants to help me out on some translations I would be ever so grateful for the help.


	7. Unruhe

**Chapter Seven: Unruhe**

Marie had just finished shopping for some new, more era-appropriate clothes with the money she'd borrowed from Logan, when she noticed the car parked across the street from the shop entrance. She'd seen the same car outside the other shop she'd visited, and the cafe she'd stopped in just before this. Wonderful. She was being tailed, probably by one or more 'interlopers' like the one that had caught her favorite cousin's attention, and Logan was unreachable as he was still working. _Just like we practiced, Anna. This is simple: escape and evade._ She heard Mystique's confident voice reminding her in her head. It showed just how nervous she was right now, really. Mystique only slipped up and used Marie's birth name when they were well and truly in the shit. She took a deep breath, adjusted her bags, and headed out of the store, pretending to be completely oblivious of her pursuers. The simplest way to lose the tail would be to get lost in a crowd, but naturally the crowd she'd seen earlier when she'd arrived had now completely dispersed.

So she would lead them on a merry chase. This tactic was always Francis' favorite because he was just that sort of endearingly obnoxious bastard. She would just lead them around on an increasingly confusing and difficult-to-follow path until they screwed up and lost sight of her. It was a pretty rewarding tactic, as long as she didn't slip up first. All she had to do, really, was to keep them at bay for the next half an hour or so, until it was time to meet back up with Logan. _Okay Marie. Just like you've practiced. You can do this. _She continued walking until she saw in the reflection of a shop window that her tail was starting up their car and preparing to follow_ ...and begin._ She turned down the alley to her left. Of course, it went through all the way with enough room for the car to follow her. Didn't matter. She knew how to handle this. Losing a car was always easier than losing a Sentinel. She jogged through the alley and turned right. She saw there was a car heading towards her on the cross street up ahead and darted across in front of it on a diagonal so that it was forced to stop abruptly, right in her pursuers' way.

"Sorry!" She called back over her shoulder as she kept on running. It really wasn't the civilians' problem, what trouble she was in. She heard the driver yelling a few choice words after her as she went. The man following her actually abandoned his own car in order to keep up the chase. _Interesting. Maybe Plan B is in order... No, better wait on that. It ain't worth the risk._

She turned down another alley and continued the chase. As he reached the mouth of the alley, her pursuer split; a perfect duplicate stepped out of him while he stood still. The original followed her while the other went to the right to try and cut her off.

* * *

><p>Logan was just getting out of his truck when he saw Marie streaking through the lot towards him. There was a man in a dark grey business suit chasing after her. She looked like she'd been running for a while and was now clearly very much out of breath... and there he came again, behind himself, too perfect a copy simply to be his twin.<p>

"What the..." Logan muttered as he slammed the car door behind him and stepped closer. Yet another copy jumped down from the one story building to Marie's left and tackled her to the ground. Logan was already running toward them. "Hey! Back off Bub!"

Marie tried to throw the guy off her. He punched her in the face. Logan's claws extended and he growled. One of the other copies ran for Logan to cut him off.

"I said back off!" Logan slashed him with his claws leaving his arms dark with blood where he had instinctively shielded himself. The injured copy screamed in pain and split in two. The duplicate punched Logan in the jaw. Logan recovered quickly, punching the duplicate in the face as he slashed the other's shoulder. He then ducked down and stabbed them both right in the center of their chests. Guy number two was heading towards him now. Marie had gotten a couple punches in and was now rolling around on the ground, struggling with her attacker. He was bigger, but she was fierce and vicious and was making it quite difficult for him to pin her in one place despite his superior strength.

Logan tried to slash this latest copy, but he ducked out of the way and blocked the next blow by grabbing his wrist. He then used his other arm to fling Logan hard into the car behind him, crushing it on impact. Logan was fairly certain the others hadn't been able to do that. As he pushed himself out of the Logan-shaped dent in the car, he saw his theory being confirmed out of the corner of his vision. The one pinning Marie seemed to be getting faster and more flexible as they recovered. His abilities were adapting to better combat theirs. If they were going to beat this guy, they had to do it right now, without any warning.

Logan pushed up and pulled a jagged piece of ruined car out of his side, with a grunt of pain. He retracted his claws as the other mutant marched over to him, businesslike. His face was blank, just like the first one. Logan looked over at the one pinning Marie. His was not. Logan let the copy tackle him and grabbed him in a bear hug, calling over to Marie.

"You got him Kid. You need to take him out!"

"What?" Marie shouted back, sounding shocked and incredulous. "How?"

"Doesn't matter. Just do it quickly."

"Fuck!" Marie exclaimed as she struggled and the other mutant pinned one of her arms by her head. That was it! "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Ugh." She muttered unhappily as he grabbed her other wrist and she yanked it closer, pinning his hand in between her wrist and the exposed skin of her jaw. He tried to pull away at first, but he was caught. She felt the familiar flowing pressure spread out from where their skin touched and saw him begin to gasp and choke as she drew more energy out of him. There was a heavy sort of splash as the second copy disintegrated. She let him go and pushed the now weak and breathless man off of her and scrambled away. Logan looked her over appraisingly before reaching out to help her up.

"Oh no. Don't touch me." She hugged herself and shook her head as if trying to shake the remnants of her attacker off of her. "Uh! I _hate_ doin' that!"

Logan chose not to comment. Instead he went and knelt down next to the self-replicating mutant. He grabbed him by the collar.

"Who are you? Who do you work for?" The suited man remained silent, shaking and breathing rapidly.

"Who do you work for?" Logan continued angrilly. The other man just shook his head adamantly, beginning to writhe in his grip. Logan extended his claws. "You'd better start talking Bud."

Instead of being intimidated, the other mutant relaxed completely, and then he began to chuckle. Logan and Marie exchanged a perplexed look. The chuckle turned into a laugh, which quickly built into a roar of uncontrollable mirth, as if Logan had just told him the funniest joke in the world. The suited man's blue-grey eyes looked up to meet Logan's. They darkened as if a shadow was passing over them, darker than the blackest night, and then they were completely inky-black.

"Hmm... " The man said with a sadistic smile. "Nice try, kids. We'll play again soon."

He grabbed Logan's hand faster than either of them could react and used the claws to slit his own throat, still laughing in ridiculous amusement as he did. Marie let out a little startled shriek and clapped a hand over her mouth, staring wide eyed at Logan and the corpse he was now holding in his bloody hands.

* * *

><p>The next day Charles, Erik and Raven entered the bar that Logan was visiting just as he stood to leave. He normally would've taken more time to sit and relax, maybe enjoy a cigar, but after the events of the previous day, he and Marie had agreed they should head out of town as soon as possible. He'd decided he would help her safely reach the meeting place in Westchester. He would make sure she met up with her cousin as planned or at least a couple of their allies. She was willing to help him remember, and for that he felt he at least owed her this much.<p>

Charles frowned slightly as he saw Logan rise from his stool, putting some money down. That wasn't supposed to happen. For a few seconds his vision seemed to flicker and a ghostly vision of the meeting he'd seen in the not-mare overlaid itself over what he was seeing in reality.

"Something's wrong." He noted quietly to himself. Raven seemed to have heard, because she shot him a nervous, questioning look. He held up a hand, signaling for them to stay back, and reached out telepathically for the other mutant's mind, skimming off his surface thoughts.

_**Got to get out of here fast. At least we had some warning that they'd be coming. Marie should be ready to go by now. We can make it out of town before sunset. Make sure they lose the trail...**_

Charles' frown deepened to one of concern as he slowly lowered the hand he'd been holding to his temple and turned to look at the others.

"Is there a problem?" Erik asked.

"Yes, there is. It appears someone else has gotten here before us." Charles said, moving to meet Logan halfway to the door. The others moved to follow. _**No, Erik. Please keep your distance. He's already on edge as it is. We do not want to spook him.**_

Erik hesitated before acquiescing and falling back to watch. He did not look even remotely happy about it.

"Excuse me. Could I have a moment to speak with you?" Charles inquired, smiling non-threateningly. Logan paused and looked him over, then flicked his gaze over to Raven who was standing at his shoulder. "My name is Charles Xavier and this is my sister Raven."

Logan grunted, uninterested, and resumed his walk out of the bar. Charles just followed after him, with Raven close behind.

"I have a proposition for you that I believe you may find interesting." He persisted.

"Fuck off. I've got no time for this," Logan muttered, not even glancing back at them as he continued to head for his truck.

"Hey! We can help you." Raven called after him, feeling a little annoyed by the way this guy was treating Charles. Logan ignored them. Time to go for broke.

"We can help Marie." Charles added smoothly. It was truly amazing just how quickly Logan reacted. Raven let out a startled shriek as Charles was suddenly pinned to the wall behind him by his throat.

"How do you know about her?" Logan demanded.

"We aren't here to hurt anyone." Charles choked out, instinctively grabbing at the hand that was beginning to cut off his air supply. "We came. Here. To... ask..."

"Come on. Let him go!" Raven demanded, sounding panicked "You're choking him!"

"Who sent you?"

"No one sent us, okay? Just let him go!" Logan gave no indication that he'd be letting go anytime soon. Raven tried to pull him off. He, quite understandably, had not been expecting her to be so strong, and it actually worked, then his claws extended causing her to jump back.

"Metal..." She thought aloud eyeing Logan's claws. _**Don't do it Raven!**_ Charles warned her telepathically, but she ignored him.

"That's it! Erik!" She called out loudly, sounding furious. Erik appeared suspiciously fast, and with a flick of his wrist, Logan was thrown back away from them and pinned to the hood of a nearby car by an invisible force. Erik kept one hand out, holding Logan down while he watched Raven drop to her knees in front of a coughing, gasping and very indignant-looking Charles.

"Are you injured?" Erik asked. Raven shook her head absently.

"'M fine." Charles wheezed, before clearing his throat and straightening to send Raven a disapproving look. "I could have handled it. You shouldn't have called Erik into this."

"Bullshit!" Raven argued as he began to get up. She grabbed his arm to help him.

"Language." He scolded, looked at Logan still pinned to the car and then at Erik. "It might be best if you released him, my friend. I think he's gotten the message."

Erik shrugged. His eyes were steely and cold.

"I like him better this way."

"Erik, please release him. It was all my fault anyway, a simple misunderstanding." Erik sighed and let his hand fall to his side. He did not, however, take his eyes off of Logan for even a millisecond.

"You know, as the person who's now had two different people attempt to kill him in one week, I'm not sure your judgment is too reliable on this." Raven pointed out as Logan slumped down to sit on the bumper.

"He wasn't trying to kill me." Charles corrected before standing in front of Logan. "I believe the man who came after your friend Marie may have been working for the same person that recently sent a killer after me."

"Who's Marie?" Erik asked, Raven shrugged. She'd long ago become accustomed to Charles' tendency pull knowledge seemingly out of thin air, to the point that it didn't even occur to her to question it anymore.

"You were thinking about her when we came into the bar." Charles explained "That's how I knew about her."

"You're a telepath." Logan concluded, looking both annoyed and amused.

"You've met one before?" Raven said incredulously, she'd never seen anyone give that reaction before.

"No. Marie did." Logan admitted before looking up at Charles as a thought occured to him.

"You said you were here to give me some kind of offer?"

"Yes. If you needed help harnessing your m-"

"So you're training mutants."

"Well, yes..."

"How old are you?"

"What?" Raven asked, exchanging a puzzled look with Erik.

"Early, mid twenties maybe? And this one's adopted." Logan continued, pointing at Raven. It was definitely a statement, not a question.

"Okay, seriously: what?" Raven exclaimed.

"Yes." Charles replied, studying Logan's face curiously.

"I think you're two of the mutants Marie's been looking for." He turned and looked Raven over. "I thought you seemed kind of familiar."

* * *

><p>Marie looked at her watch, then out the window, wondering what on earth was taking Logan so long to get back. Had he run into another interloper? No, that didn't make any sense; they were after her, not Logan. Besides he was not only immortal, but also 20% Adamantium, which made him pretty damn formidable against pretty much any non-magnekinetic opponent. She refused to worry about Magneto. She doubted he was active already. No one even knew about mutants yet. Logan's truck came into view, rolling gradually up the gravel drive. She could see a silhouette in the passenger's seat. Who the hell could that be? They were supposed to be leaving. She got up and hurried downstairs, grabbing the old military bag that Logan was letting her use, and going to wait on the porch. She sat on the old, weathered porch swing with her arms crossed over her chest as Logan parked the truck and three strangers climbed out. The younger of the two men looked over at her.<p>

_**You must be Marie. **_Marie straightened, surprised by the familiar, yet unfamiliar, signature brushing across her mind.

_**And you're Professor Xavier. You're different then I was expectin'. What're you doin' here?**_ She projected towards him just as she'd grown used to doing with Francis over the past couple of years.

"Please, call me Charles. I was told by your friend here that you were searching for me." Charles continued aloud, walking up to her.

"I was. I thought you'd be in New York." She responded moving her bag so that he could sit down beside her on the swing.

"New York?" He asked, seeming surprised. _**So our timing must have been off. **_"What do you mean..?" Marie shot him an exasperated look.

"You might wanna quit that." She noticed the blonde walking up the steps to join them and did a double take as she realised who she had to be, swallowing down the lump forming in her throat.

"I'm sorry I..." Charles noticed her somewhat stunned expression and followed her gaze over to his sister. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Marie shook herself relaxing her expression.

"No, it's nothin'." She replied quickly. Her gaze flicked over to Erik, but then straight away again. She simply was not dealing with that right now.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I wasn't expectin' to find you on my own..." Raven raised an eyebrow and glanced at Logan. He was too busy exchanging distrustful looks with Erik to react.

"I'm Rogue, by the way. I didn't really get a chance to introduce myself." Marie told Raven with a small smile.

"Raven Xavier, but I guess you already know that." Raven responded, sitting on the wooden railing across from them and pointing at Erik. "And that's Erik Lehnsherr. He looks all mean and intimidating but he... well, he's sometimes not."

"Raven, that's hardly fair. We've been through a bit of an ordeal on our way here." Charles explained. "I'm afraid it's put us all a little on edge."

"Okay." Rogue said, studying Erik a moment longer before turning back to them. "My cousin and I were originally gonna look for you together, but we got separated. Somethin' really big is goin' to happen this year and we were hopin' to stop it all goin' to hell... Look I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to handle this. I don't know where he is, but I was sorta hopin' I'd find him first. He knows a lot more about it than I do."

"Why us?" Raven asked "This isn't about Shaw, is it?"

"Look, I'm not really sure what to tell you."

"Start with the truth. It shouldn't be difficult." Erik cut in.

"It aint that simple! What you need to know is that somethin's comin'. He called it a 'watershed event'. The kinda thing that changes the entire course of history. Once it's done, we won't get another chance to fix it, so we have to make sure that it doesn't go wrong. We were supposed to find you together to make sure you managed to get it right, but it looks like someone else's figured it out too, and now we've got competition." Rogue explained, increasingly disgruntled. "I don't know how to fix it. It was his plan, and now he's gone, and I got not a damn clue where the hell he is or why he's missing. All I did was follow the plan as I knew it. I don't know what to tell you or how I'm supposed to do this. I just know that if I screw up, it's over, for all of us!"

Rogue leaned forward running her hand through her hair. Charles rested a hand on her shoulder to comfort her and she tensed instinctively.

"Careful." She warned him, closing her eyes and trying to calm down. Magneto- no Erik's presence had really pushed her to the edge of her control. "I don't wanna hurt you."

Raven's brow furrowed at the strangeness of the comment as Charles pulled his hand away apologetically. Her tone had sounded more resigned than threatening.

"I can't touch people." Rogue explained, sounding somber. "Bad things happen if I do."

Erik and Charles exchanged a look.

"Rogue, is it?" Erik asked. Rogue eyed him suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"We came here looking for fellow mutants to join us and train with us. Your mutation is nothing to be ashamed of. We can help you control it."

Rogue smiled sadly, shaking her head.

"You can't. We tried. I'm not like all of you. This.." She gestured with her hand to the bare skin on her face and around her collar. "Doesn't turn off. It's just the way I am. I ain't ashamed anymore; I'm just dangerous."

"What exactly does it do?" Raven asked, getting a scathing look from Erik for her lack of tact. "Your mutation I mean."

"When people touch my skin it sort of... drains them, and it hurts. In humans it's like I'm sucking their lifeforce and their memories out, and in mutants I absorb their abilities too. I can do what they can do for a little while after." Rogue explained bitterly, regarding Erik with a look in her eye that sent a chill through his veins. It almost seemed accusing. "Needless to say, I try to avoid it." She turned too look at Charles. "What are ya'll trainin' for? It's a little early to be building a school..."

"Oh well, I don't know about that. You wouldn't believe how many more of us there are out there." Charles disagreed. "It would be wonderful to have a safe haven for people like us to live and train among our own kind, but you're right. That isn't why we're looking at present."

"There is a very powerful mutant, a terrorist going by the name of Shaw-" Erik began.

Marie suddenly remembered one of those history lessons she'd only half-listened to back in simpler times, when she was just another student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

"_Sebastian_ Shaw?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Yes." He replied, his grey eyes studying her suspiciously now.

"That's it! I think I'm supposed to help you stop him."

"Stop him from what?" Logan inquired, causing Raven to jump. They'd all more or less forgotten he was there. Except Erik, of course; he was just blanking the guy out of manly bitchiness. Rogue considered the question for a second before shrugging. She probably should avoid predicting the future outright. That could easily mess up the timeline in a bad way. Logan raised an eyebrow. She recognized that look. He thought she was full of shit. Oh well, at least he wasn't calling her out on it in front of the others.

* * *

><p>That night they'd actually ended up making good time, heading back to the base. Marie and Raven were both asleep in the back seat as they pulled in to the little motel parking lot. Logan had decided to stay behind, having his own reasons not to want to work with the government. Apparently he was planning to continue searching for Marie's cousin in her absence. After a long, hushed conversation on the subject, they had said their farewells and parted ways.<p>

Charles opened the car door and stretched, looking back at the two young women still fast asleep.

"I'll go handle our rooms." Erik offered. "You can wake the others."

Charles nodded and yawned widely. Erik went off to get their rooms sorted.

"Raven." Charles coaxed, patting her shoulder. Raven murmured sleepily. "We're here. It's time to get up."

"Charles?" Raven queried as she opened her eyes and sat up. She looked down to see that at some point during the trip, her lap had become Marie's pillow. "Oh. Thanks."

She gingerly poked at the back of Marie's hood. She had puled it forward to cover her face and a couple of long white and brown locks were hanging out over her chin.

"Marie?" Raven tried, poking her again.

"Mom." Marie mumbled suddenly and sat up.

"Um..." Raven began.

"Oh, right; sorry. Weird dream." Marie said awkwardly, brushing her hair out of her face.

"No problem." Raven assured her.

Charles was already grabbing their bags out of the back when he saw the black turtleneck come into his line of vision.

"Erik."

"Onslaught." Onslaught corrected, as Charles turned to face his double. He studied the phantom for a moment. He was dressed all in black now. A black turtleneck under a black blazer with perfectly fitted black pants. Other than that, he still did look just like a nineteen-year-old Charles.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"I have taste." Onslaught replied, running his eyes over Charles' attire. "Unlike some people."

Charles glared at him.

"I like tweed." Charles said defensively, walking through Onslaught's projection to meet Erik, who was coming back with the room keys. "There is nothing wrong with tweed."

Erik raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't comment immediately.

"Sure, there isn't." Onslaught replied in a perfectly neutral tone. "You left the regenerator behind, I see."

"He doesn't trust the government." Charles replied as they followed Erik to their room.

"Him again." Erik concluded sounding displeased.

"I know, but he'd be very useful. You couldn't try to talk him into helping you anyway?"

"He'd rather help Rogue find her cousin. Under the circumstances, Onslaught, I happen to agree with his decision." Charles explained, as Raven walked up beside him to get her room key.

"Do you really think you should mention that to him? We don't even know anything about Onslaught other than how obnoxious he is."

Onslaught glared at her and folded his arms over his chest.

"I heard that!"

"She didn't mean anything by it." Charles soothed patiently. Raven rolled her eyes. "I believe you already knew about those two before I did. Am I correct?"

Erik and Raven were watching him closely now. Charles did his best not to let it bother him, opening his suitcase on his bed.

"Well, yes." Onslaught admitted, sitting down on the mattress beside the suitcase.

"You could have given us a warning. Did you know about the Shadow King?"

"I suspected." Onslaught admitted. Charles straightened, looking down at him disapprovingly. " I didn't have much to tell you. I knew there were others, but I'm not like you. I can't be everywhere at once. I know about all the same players you do now. We're about even."

"This isn't a game." Charles reminded him, beginning to look through his suitcase.

"It's a figure of speech." Onslaught retorted belligerently. Erik switched on the bedside lamp to Onslaught's right, and when the light hit the projection's face, Charles noticed a subtle crisscrossing pattern of pale, thin scars around his duplicate's lips.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" Charles inquired, gesturing to his own mouth with one hand. Erik looked over at him curiously.

"What?" Onslaught asked, before seeming to realize. "Ah, that."

His image flickered, his eyes briefly flashing with brilliant blue light, and then he was a perfect copy of the current, twenty-four-year-old Charles wearing different clothing.

"Hmmm. Interesting." Charles observed.

"We've completely digressed- I may have lost my point entirely now!" Onslaught grumbled. "You know what, whatever. The grumpy immortal is off looking for the cousin, people are trying to kill you and Marie, and meanwhile you think: 'one glitch in my projection... _that's_ the interesting bit'. Honestly, you think _I'm_ the obnoxious one?"

With another irritable flicker, the projection vanished. Charles turned to the others as Marie walked up to see what was going on.

"I think we've offended him." Charles remarked.

"Who?" Marie asked.

"Some telepath keeps contacting Charles." Raven told her. "He claims to have information for us, but so far he's just mimicked Charles' appearance and been a mildly irritating presence in his mind."

"What was on his face?" Erik asked, remembering the gesture Charles had used earlier.

"He had some light scarring around his mouth. I think he was losing concentration." Charles said, thinking over this latest exchange. He glanced over at Rogue, feeling like he was missing something that should be obvious.

"Alright, well. Goodnight. I'm gonna just go get some sleep." Marie said awkwardly, grabbing the girls' room-key from Raven and leaving.

"Okay..." Raven said, staring after the swiftly retreating young woman. "That was weird."

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:**Thank you all for reading. Just a heads up, the next couple of chapters look like they're going to be epic-ly long. I'm working on trimming them down right now but it looks like it really can't be helped. I am trying though. Please review.


	8. This is Not the End

**TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains graphic depictions of child abuse.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: This is Not the End<strong>

Charles tossed and turned in his bunk, caught in yet another nightmare. At least this time it wasn't one that had the terrible shadow creature, just another echo of his traumatic childhood. In the bunk above him Erik sat up and steeled himself for another ordeal. During the past two nights they'd been back, Charles had slept soundly. Erik had hoped it would stay that way. He should have known better. Nothing was ever that easy.

"Charles." He called softly, grabbing Charles' shoulder. "Charles it's alright. It's just a..."

He grabbed Charles' other shoulder to shake him gently, and his hand brushed the bare skin of his collar bone. There was an odd, disorienting sort of charge running up through him from the point of contact, then he was in a large, ornate, antique armchair sitting in a massive study. Erik caught a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye and looked down to see a frightened little blond girl hiding under the large, mahogany desk his chair was facing.

"...nightmare." He finished. The little girl paid him no mind. He didn't exist in her world.

"Listen to me you nosy little brat! I don't know what you think you're playing at, but I'll teach you to mind your own business from now on!" An unfamiliar, middle-aged man threatened as he dragged a struggling young boy into the study by the back of his collar. The little girl flinched and covered her mouth at the sound of the large man striking the scrawny boy he was holding by the arm. She turned her face upwards to stare at the underside of the desk above her trying to keep quiet. Her brown eyes turned gold.

"Raven." Erik said, waving a hand in front of her face, but she still couldn't seem to see or hear him. He'd apparently gotten pulled into Charles' nightmare somehow, but not far enough to truly reach him.

"I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" The boy protested weakly. He was small for his age. His face was slightly chubbier, and his hair lighter, but it was clear this was Charles. The man must be his stepfather.

"Oh, no. Not yet you're not. You're not going to ruin this for me you little sneak." Mr. Marko punched little Charles in the chest. He fell back against the desk, so hard that he bounced, landing face down on the floor. He started to push himself up, and then stilled, his eyes locked with Raven's. There was a silent communication, then he shut his eyes, letting himself be yanked up off the floor by the back of his shirt. _**Better me than Raven**_. She was shaking her head, her scales flickering randomly.

Erik instinctively reached out to try and push Marko away, but he passed right through him like a ghost. He had to wake them up. The brute beat down the defenseless boy in his clutches, unceasingly. Raven couldn't help it. She let out a little sob that echoed through the spacious, old room. Mr. Marko turned at the sound to catch sight of Raven. Raven with her wide yellow eyes, Raven and her blue, scaly hand. She sucked in a trembling breath and made a run for the door. He dove after her, grabbing her wrist. She screamed. Charles pushed himself up, reaching out to them and there was an odd sort of ringing in Erik's mind.

"No! You don't want to hurt her! She's normal! You like her!" Charles shouted, both mentally and vocally. "You just hate me!" _Oh, Charles..._

Marko shook his head, blinking rapidly, as if trying to shake the thought from his mind. Charles, sensing he was close to losing his hold, shoved him in the shoulder and ran for the desk. Mr. Marko immediately dove after him, trying to catch hold of him. He almost got his arm but Charles yanked himself away roughly, losing his balance. He was sent flying through the glass doors to the small personal library behind him. There were running footsteps out in the hall and a tall blonde in an expensive-looking fur coat burst into the room.

"Charlie? Oh my Lord! Charlie!" She hurried to her son's side and looked up at her husband. "What happened?"

Everything was darkening at the edges now.

"They were just playing... It was an accident..." Kurt lied as Charles' mother hovered over her child, her hands fluttering helplessly over his small, bloodied form.

"No! Mom-" Raven began, but the older boy who'd followed Mrs. Xavier into the room grabbed Raven by the shoulders cutting her off.

"We should go find Briggs. He used to be a medic, remember?" He suggested quickly and pulled Raven out of the room to go search for him.

Everything went black.

* * *

><p>Erik and Charles both snapped their eyes open at the same time, Erik jerking his hand back as if he'd been burned. Charles was still breathing fast, looking a bit disoriented.<p>

"Erik?"

"What was that?" Erik asked tightly. Charles covered his face with his hands before running them through his hair. He actually seemed to pale even further.

"So... you saw that."

"Yes."

"Sorry about that. You weren't meant to."

"Don't." Charles finally looked up at him. "You don't need to apologise. It was an a- It wasn't your fault."

"Right, s- Right." Charles nodded, covertly snuggling a little closer to Erik's warmth.

"Charles?" Erik questioned, deciding not to call him on it.

"Hmm?" Charles hummed, continuing his attempts at sneak-cuddling.

"What was that I just saw?" Charles stilled.

"A nightmare?" Honestly Charles, you couldn't deceive an imbecile. Stop it.

"It really happened, didn't it?" Erik persisted. The answering silence was confirmation enough."Where is he now?" He was already thinking of new, creative ways he could kill the bastard.

"Kurt Marko is dead, and I'd rather you didn't." Erik focused on quieting his thoughts again.

"How did he die?"

"He burned to death." Erik smiled slightly, pleased by this bit of news. "I believe Cain may have been responsible. They think he burned, too, but his body was never found..."

Charles looked away again. His eyes were moist with unshed tears.

"It was my fault."

"Charles..." Erik sounded like he wanted to argue, but instead he pulled him into a hug. Charles burrowed his face into Erik's shoulder and let the tears fall. They stayed like that the rest of the night. Charles finally fell back to sleep in Erik's arms with the older man silently watching over him.

* * *

><p>"We should think up codenames! We're government agents now, right? We should all have codenames." Raven proposed excitedly. "I wanna be called Mystique."<p>

"Oh, no fair!" Sean joked. "I wanted to be Mystique."

"Too bad. I called it." Mystique replied with a smirk, and with a flick of her azure scales, she took on Sean's form. The others jumped and made various sounds of surprise and approval. "I am way more mysterious than you are."

The others all clapped.

"So Darwin, what about you?" Raven prompted.

"Well, Darwin's already my nickname and I guess it sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all." He got up from the couch he was sharing with Angel and demonstrated his ability by ducking into the fishtank and sprouting gills on either side of his throat. The others all oohed and ahed and clapped. Banshee was next; Marie jumped and grabbed the counter of the bar when he accidentally shattered the window instead of the glasses that he'd been aiming for. At least she'd known a little about what to expect after helping mind his daughter Theresa in her native timeline. Then Angel showed her wings and spat some of her acid onto the head of the statue to demonstrate what she could do. Marie turned to lean against the bar, hoping they'd just forgotten about her. That way no one would ask her...

"Hey, what about you?" Angel asked as she sat back down. Marie squeezed her eyes shut, praying she hadn't meant her. "Rogue, right? Where'd you get that name?"

_Damnit! Of course she meant me. _She hesitantly turned back around to face the others.

"Well I... I don't think you really wanna see what I'm capable of." She explained nervously.

"Oh, don't be shy. Show us! It can't be that bad." Angel encouraged, still smiling slightly. Marie looked over at Raven pleadingly.

"I really don't..." Rogue continued, silently begging someone to jump in and take the focus off of her.

"Come on guys. She doesn't have to show us if she doesn't want to." Raven came to her rescue, looking around at the others. "What about you, Alex?"

"Uh, well..." Alex hesitated, then saw Raven and Rogue's twin pleading expressions and swallowed. "Um, okay I guess... but I can't do it here."

"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked, pointing out at the courtyard.

"Fine." Alex said, getting up and stepping through the broken window. "Just get down when I tell you to."

They all crowded around the edge of the window, peeking around the corner. Rogue hesitated but Raven held out a hand to her encouragingly. She shyly crept up and Raven gave her gloved hand a little comforting squeeze as they joined the others.

"Get back." Alex warned. They complied, but then peeked out again once he wasn't looking. "I said get... Whatever." Alex said, seeing them all leaning over the threshold. He reached his arms out and they all ducked for cover as he hurled three rings of plasma out of his core. They sliced the statue to pieces, leaving smoking cuts in the concrete walls around them. The other mutants all ducked back out of the way, Raven wrapping a protective arm around Marie's back. Ever since they'd found her, Raven seemed to consider Marie to be her own personal responsibilty, as she was the only one that Raven had truly helped recruit. When it was finished, they all got back up and began to clap. It had been one hell of a show.

* * *

><p>"The plane leaves for Russia in an hour." Moira declared as she, Charles and Erik walked back toward the courtyard. They'd just been informed that Shaw was headed there to meet with the Russian Defense Chief of Moscow.<p>

"I'm telling you, these children are not ready for Shaw." Erik insisted.

"I think they might surprise you. This is a group of exceptional young people." Charles disagreed as they turned the corner.

"What the hell?" Moira thought aloud, seeing the chaos the youngsters had committed in the courtyard. They were all laughing and dancing and carrying on in the lounge, on the other side of a shattered window.

"Harder!" Darwin demanded loudly as they walked up. Alex hit his armor forcefully with a busted table leg. Raven was dancing around on one of the couches, changing sporadically into the random forms Rogue called out, giggling. Angel buzzed through the air around them playing catch with an upside-down Hank.

"What the hell are you doing?" Moira shouted, resting her hands on her hips. Angel and Hank promptly returned to earth, looking guilty. Darwin retracted his body-armor. The others all froze. Moira pointed back to the destroyed statue. "Who did that?"

"It was Alex." Hank reported.

"Dude!" Rogue exclaimed in a 'what the fuck' tone of voice. Alex glared at Hank.

"No, Havok. He's Havok now." Raven corrected, stepping down off the couch and pointing at Charles. "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X." She pointed at Erik. "And you should be Magneto."

Rogue face-palmed.

"Exceptional." Erik deadpanned. Charles just looked sternly around at all of them before his gaze settled on Raven.

"I expect more from you." He stated angrily before turning and following the others out. Raven watched him go, looking absolutely crushed.

* * *

><p>Walking alone into a dark alley late at night is arguably not the brightest thing a slightly built, only five-and-a-half-foot-tall teenager could do. One would definitely argue this point when considering the fact that said teenager, though accustomed to sensing any others nearby with his mind, was not actually paying full attention to his surroundings. There was a rather pivotal briefing going on at a certain CIA base miles away that was much more interesting. Still, I should have been able to sense any threats nearby with time to spare.<p>

"Verdammt!" I shouted, far too close to being caught completely off guard as a large man tackled me. Asshole! He sat on my chest, pushing the air out of my lungs with his body-weight and pinned my arms to the ground. There was a nasty smile on his face.

"Hello, Precious! You're even more delicate than I expected." He taunted. I tried to pull my hands free and took a quick look around to see if he'd brought any friends. Nope. That was cocky. "Oh no. Just you and me this time little Telepath."

Ah, of course, combatting a Telepath with a Blank. That explained it. He pulled out a knife, but stopped short when I began to glow. I transitioned, and as expected, the resultant boom sent him flying into the alley wall. The impact killed him instantly. I returned to my material state and stood, tugging the rim of my turtleneck back into its proper place.

"It's Francis." I amended straightening my suit and brushing the dirt off of my favorite black duster. So the Shadow King was aware of my position. That was definitely a problem.

* * *

><p>Charles and Erik were just starting to prepare to go to sleep for the night when they heard a tentative knock on the door to their quarters. Charles paused for a moment to identify the presence.<p>

"Raven." He said with a sigh, putting his arm back through his shirtsleeve. Erik went over and opened the door.

"What is it?" Raven looked anxiously past him at Charles.

"I know you're mad, Charles but... can we talk about something in private, please?" She asked shyly. "It's um, it's kind of important."

Charles looked at her questioningly for a moment as he finished rebuttoning his shirt and then walked over to join her, touching her arm.

"Of course."

Erik just nodded and shut the door after him. They ended up walking back out to the now-abandoned courtyard, stepping through to sit together on the same couch that had been Raven's impromptu stage earlier on.

"Charles..." Raven said hesitantly. "I... I think I know who the Shadow King is. I didn't want to believe it before, but I still should have told you. Mom made me swear not to mention it again and-" She stopped herself sighing heavily. "I'm sorry."

"Raven, what do you mean Mom told you not to mention it? I don't remember-"

"Exactly!"Raven cut in darkly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "You can't remember, because of what he did. He was supposed to be dead! I saw him die!" She leaned forward, her hands grabbing at each other nervously. "But then there were those plants Erik found and then that woman... I know you didn't want me to, but I looked at the report anyway. What she said about the way he takes people... It's him!"

"Raven, Love, what are you talking about? Who was he?" Charles asked resting his hands on her shoulders. The tears had begun to fall down her cheecks and he could feel her shaking.

"Remember when we were kids, you got really sick and blacked out? I told you when you woke up that that was when I figured out how strong I was." Charles nodded.

"I was in a coma."

"For over a week." Raven amended. "You weren't sick. He came into the library..." She sniffed and wiped her cheek. " Mom was downstairs with a bunch of her friends and we were playing chess. You could tell that he was different when he got close to us. You thought he was like you. You used your power to shield me but he grabbed your face and his eyes got all dark and- I don't know what he did, but by the time I got him off of you, you were just all limp! He was trying to kill you and I just acted I- He was dead! He was-"

"Shhhh." Charles said pulling her close and running a hand through her hair. "Shh. It's alright. It's over. You're safe now."

"You're not."

"Shh. We'll be alright." Charles assured her, rubbing her back. "We'll stop him together."

He wasn't certain who he was trying to convince of what. The next morning Moira was given the name he'd used to get into Xavier mansion all those years back to cross reference with the Shadow King alias. Amahl Farouk was in fact dead. The case pertaining to his death had been sealed, as they'd known it would be. Sharon Xavier may have had many flaws but she was no idiot. The cause of death matched Raven's story as well: blunt force trauma to the head. However Farouk's assistant, H. G. Danowski -although he had no career listed to explain what the hell he needed an assistant for- had completely vanished days after his burial... after being named sole recipient of his estate. She wrote the name out on her note pad and reshuffled the letters. H.G. Danowski: Shadow King.

* * *

><p>All throughout the trip to Russia, Charles radiated tension. Moira and Erik both tried to talk to him about it, but each time he just gave some nonsense response about 'feeling something terrible was about to happen, that he should've remembered'. The first couple of times they assured him it was only pre-mission nerves. This only seemed to make his distress worse. After the fifth try, they gave up asking, but Erik was hovering protectively around him now. This was also the longest Onslaught had taken to contact him. Erik found himself wondering if something had happened to the boy before reminding himself he didn't care. Moira hoped whatever it was that was going on, they'd be able to handle it when the time came. They were too far in now for her to send them back to the safety of the base, no matter how much she truly wished she could.<p>

It wasn't Shaw who showed up at the Russian Military Retreat. It was Frost. This was too familiar. Erik went in after her despite Moira's protests, ordering Charles to stay there. The CIA personnel began to fall back. There was too much risk in sticking around just for one disobedient asset.

"I'm sorry." Charles muttered softly, before jumping up and running after him.

"Dammit, Charles! Someone grab him!" Moira exclaimed, reaching out to try and grab him by his jacket, but he was too fast. He ducked under another agent's grasping arms, easily picking up on the thought before its accompanying movement, and speeding out of reach.

"What now Ma'am?" Moira ran a hand through her hair, considering her options.

"Alright. We'll fall back to the trucks and keep out of sight. We aren't abandoning our people unless we absolutely have to." The soldiers nodded and they melted back into the trees.

Erik looked behind him, raising his hand to defend himself. He let it drop when he saw Charles running down the hall to meet him.

"I told you to stay behind."

"Yes, you did, and I disagreed." Charles responded easily, pausing next to Erik outside the double doors to catch his breath. Erik looked like he wanted to smack him. He did want to smack him. This was too dangerous. He'd wanted Charles back on the sidelines with the humans where he knew he'd be safe. "Shall we?" Charles prompted calmly, and Erik reminded himself that strangling Charles is wrong. One of the doornobs became warped into a funny shape. Erik nodded stiffly and they burst into the bedroom. Making appropriately disturbed faces at the sight that met them. The Colonel was having passionate sex with the air as Frost sat in her underwear on the nearby couch and watched, looking incredibly bored. The Colonel caught sight of them, and after a moment of confusion, he went for his gun. Charles put a hand to his temple.

"Sleep." He commanded. The Colonel immediately did so. Frost rose from the couch and switched to her diamond form. Charles screwed up his face in concentration, grunting in pain.

"You can stop trying to read my mind, Sugar." She said walking over in front of the bed. "You won't get anything from me when I'm like this."

They paused, summing each other up. She tried to rush past them. The other two caught her and forced her back against the bedframe. Erik used it to bind and strangle her. Charles tried to make him stop. He finally did, retiring to the couch for drink, after he'd put several cracks in her diamond form. It was only once Charles began to read her that the dread came back full force, then he remembered. Frost's eyes widened as she caught a hint of the memory herself.

"Oh, no." Charles said. He was actually shaking. "No. Tell me you didn't!"

"I..." Frost sputtered, at a loss as to how to deal with this new revelation. His jaw tightened.

"Of course you did."

"Charles? What is it?" Erik asked, rising from where he'd been lounging on the couch.

"We have to get back! Now!" Charles said, already using his telepathy to contact Moira.

* * *

><p>The human agents didn't really stand a chance against Shaw. This was the sixties. There were no supression fields or Sentinels yet. There weren't any automated security programs. When Shaw hit, he hit hard, and within minutes he, Riptide and Azazel had taken out all the agents in the base. The young mutants they'd been guarding were all huddled together for cover as Riptide stepped in through the shattered window looking pleased with himself. They were here for them, Rogue knew it. She had to do something. She yanked one of her gloves off and lunged for Riptide.<p>

"Rogue! Stay back!" Alex called out fearfully, trying to pull her back to safety, but she ignored him. Riptide moved to hit her with one of his cyclones, but she grabbed the side of his neck with her bare hand and started to drain him. The partly formed cyclone in his hand sputtered out as he began to gasp and struggle against her. Azazel appeared behind her in a puff of smoke, his arms and tail wrapping around her waist. The familiarity of the action made her slow to react. He took his chance, throwing her into the opposite wall, swearing angrily in Russian.

"Marie!" Raven cried, rushing over and dropping to her knees beside her. "Oh my God!"

"Well, that was interesting, wasn't it?" Shaw remarked casually as he strolled into the room. He glanced over at Azazel and Riptide. "Really, boys, do try to remember why we're here."

Azazel frowned at that, but neither he nor Riptide argued or tried to defend their actions.

"Where's the Telepath?" Shaw asked.

"He's not here." Azazel reported.

"That's too bad." Shaw remarked, then shrugged. "Oh well. At least I can take this silly thing off." He took off his stupid little helmet with an inapporopriate smile. "Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw and I am not here to hurt you."

Raven pulled the still partly stunned Marie a little closer to her, remembering what she'd told them when they'd first met.

"Freeze!" An unfortunate surviving agent called from the courtyard.

"Azazel." Shaw prompted, and a second later the agent was dead. Marie groaned and sat up, cradling her arm. She was pretty sure her wrist was fractured. Alex came over to them and he and Raven helped her up, leading her back to the group. The others drew her into the center of their protective huddle. Shaw just watched this with a condescending expression on his face before he began his little speech.

"My friends, there is a revolution coming, when mankind discovers who we are and what we are capable of. When that time comes, each of us will face a choice: Be enslaved..." He said eyeing the black guy like the unsubtle twat that he was. "Or rise up to rule. You choose freely, but know that if you aren't with us, you are, by definition, against us. So you can stay here with the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like Kings."

Angel eyed Rogue's broken wrist and then their eyes met. Rogue could see the gears turning in the girl's mind and she didn't like what she was thinking. She'd seen that look before. Angel looked up at Shaw.

"Or Queens." He amended, holding out a hand to her. She took it.

"Angel?" Raven exclaimed, shocked by her friend's actions.

"We can't stay here." Angel stated simply, letting Shaw lead her out into the courtyard. "We don't belong here."

Raven shook her head, looking, desperately to the others.

"We have to do something." Darwin concluded, exchanging a look with Alex. He pushed Alex's chest and Alex shoved back, then Darwin headed after Shaw.

"Wait! I'm coming too." He said and Shaw smiled smugly. The others were beginning to move into position near the couches, preparing to take cover.

"Darwin!" Rogue called, but he ignored her. She had to fix this; from what she remembered, Havok's plasma bursts were no match for Shaw's powers.

"Darwin is it? So what do you do?" Shaw asked.

"Well basically, I adapt to survive. So I guess I'm going with you."

Shaw smirked.

"I like that."

Rogue pulled away from Raven and the others and touched Alex's arm.

"Get down, now." She ordered in a hushed voice. He looked down at her doubtfully. "Trust me."

She stepped in front of him as Darwin came up beside Angel, focusing on the sensation of Riptide's mental signature. She spread her arms wide open and channelled his power out into the courtyard, sending two formidable-looking cyclones straight at Shaw.

"What the..." Darwin muttered in surprise before snapping out of it and punching Riptide in the face just as he moved to counter her. He tried to grab Angel but Azazel got to her first and teleported her away.

"That is a neat trick." Shaw observed as Riptide was quickly teleported away. "But mine's still much better." He hurled a burst of fiery energy at her. Havok dove forward and knocked her out of the way just in time. That was when the roof collapsed.

* * *

><p>Charles leapt out of the car as they reached the now utterly decimated government base and ran over to the group of dust-and-plaster-coated mutants sitting off to one side of all the busy emergency personnel.<p>

"Raven?" He called. She ran up to him to give him a tight hug. She was covered in quite a bit of plaster-dust but not as much as Rogue and Alex, and there was a cut on her forehead near her hairline; other than that she was just fine.

"I'm okay." She assured him.

"Rogue's arm is broken and they think Alex might have gotten a mild concussion when the roof collapsed, but we're doing alright considering." Hank explained.

"What happened?"Erik asked, coming up beside Charles.

"Shaw and a couple of other mutants broke into the base. They took Angel." Darwin told them sullenly. He was clearly furious about what had happened, understandably so, but at least he was still alive this time.

"We've made arrangements for you to return home." Charles announced.

"We aren't going home." Sean responded simply, indicating Alex who was sitting beside him. "And he's not going back to prison."

"It's too dangerous. You have to-"

"They killed everybody." Rogue cut in, in a quiet, surprisingly even voice. "They aren't gonna stop until somebody stops them. That's why we're here remember? If they wanna come after us, they will. There's nowhere for us to go where they couldn't follow us if they wanted to and I, for one, don't plan on goin' down without a fight."

"She's right Charles." Erik agreed.

"Erik, a word please." Charles said pulling Erik aside to have a quiet argument about it while the others waited for their final decision and pretended not to be listening in. Finally, Charles turned back around to address them.

"We'll have to train." He announced. "All of us."

"Well we can't stay here." Hank pointed out. "It's not safe here anymore. We've got nowhere to go."

Marie smiled slightly as she realized where they must be headed.

"Yes we do." Charles concluded, glancing over at her.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** So here we are, Chapter 8, and yay! I actually managed to get it down to a decent length! I'm also very glad I still got to properly introduce Francis at last. His scene very nearly got cut but I finally found a way to fit it in. Anyway thank you all for reading. Special thanks to EvilChick13 for reviewing. I'm still hoping to find someone to help me with the German language stuff so if there is someone out there willing to help please message me to let me know. My Beta agreed to help with Italian and French when the need arises but neither of us speak German or Hebrew(which I may or may not use at some point later in the story, depending on my bravery... so probably not.) Shit this note is long, gotta end it now before it becomes ridiculous. Please review. Bye!


	9. This is Not the Beginning

**Chapter 9: This is Not the Beginning**

**Essex, England: Restricted Zone; May, 2007**

Two soldiers dragged Magneto down a long, featureless, grey hallway. Finally, they reached his cell and shoved him into the dark, shadowy room. Magneto tried to reach out with his ability, but of course it did nothing more than cause a few small metal objects nearby to vibrate, like the guard's keys. The guard, clearly disapproving of this, hit him in the back with the butt of his rifle. Magneto fell to his knees, wincing and looked around at his new prison. Concrete walls and floor, a plexiglass window to let in a meager amount of light, no furniture or further notable features other than a pathetic looking little cot in the corner beneath the skylight.

"I hadn't expected to meet you here, old friend." Remarked an achingly familiar voice from the shadows. The guards left, locking them inside. "Didn't you lose your magnekinesis?"

"Didn't you die?" Magneto asked with the slight hint of a smile on his face, as Professor Charles Xavier rolled his unfortunately plastic wheelchair out of the shadows to face him. Magneto was secretly enraged to see that they had, in fact collared Charles.

"Ah yes, fair enough." Charles replied. Magneto moved over to sit on the pathetic little cot. There was a short silence while he considered their situation and Charles waited patiently.

"I'm glad to see you're alive and well." Magneto admitted.

"The same to you as well, although I wish we might have been reunited under better circumstances."

"I warned you. I knew it would come to this!"

"Unfortunately, I believe in this case we are just as much to blame for the current state of things as the humans."

Magneto glared at him before rising from the cot and beginning to pace.

"Enough of this." He declared. "We need to find a way out of this place."

"I am sure that if there is anyone who can escape from a place like this, that you can." Charles assured him, stoically watching him pace.

"I said 'We,' Charles." Magneto corrected shortly.

"I am sorry, Erik, but my movement has become extremely limited." Charles informed him, looking down at his chair briefly. Erik glared down at the strange locking mechanisms on each side of the damned thing. "I am afraid I would only slow you down."

"Then we will just have to think of something." Magneto replied simply.

"You could leave me behind." The _'_again' was left unspoken, but Magneto still heard it loud and clear. He paused his pacing to look down at Charles as he responded.

"We both know what they will do to you, Charles. I will not permit such a thing."

* * *

><p>A few hours later, the guards came back and took Charles to the lab for continued research. It might as well have been torture. It consisted mostly of taking samples and occasionally cutting into him. They never gave him anything for the pain. He tried not to think about it. He pushed the pain away to the periphery of his mind and focused on the dark silhouette that floated in the center of the huge tank, down past the foot of the lab table where he was strapped, against the wall to his left. He didn't know why yet, but whenever he was near it, that strange shape seemed to call to him, demanding his attention. It drew him in more and more each time he was brought into the lab. That was strange. For a moment he had felt another consciousness brush up against his. He was momentarily distracted from this discovery by the appearance of a new Doctor...No, not a Doctor. He was only holding the facemask over his nose and mouth with one hand, his tinted glasses and dark burgundy, tailored suit, completely incongruous in the current setting.<p>

"Yes, yes, very good." The man said, nodding his approval, the harsh medical lighting shining off his slicked back, black hair. "Bring in the magnekinetic, please."

The Doctors began to prepare Charles to be returned with nimble, hurried movements. He grabbed one of the surgeon's hands.

"No, no, no. That won't be necessary. He's staying here." The strange man corrected. "Go, Fetch him." He ordered with a cool smile, and one of the doctors ran off with two guards trailing behind obediently. The others stared at him uncertainly. They hadn't patched Charles up yet.

"You can go."

He looked at the other Doctors who were still hesitant to leave. They hadn't finished stitching him up yet.

"You can go." The man prompted with a subtle, yet chilling sort of menace. They scattered like roaches and were gone.

"Hmmm." The man hummed to himself, inspecting Charles' form appraisingly, as if he was looking at an extremely interesting specimen. _No, An addition to his collection._ Charles realized as the man's fingers gently brushed the back of his wrist. The collar only worked as long as there was no skin to skin contact. He felt the unusual new consciousness within the tank calling his attention once again. Magneto was brought into the room and led over to stand to the right of the lab table by Charles' feet. The guards shoved him forward and he stumbled only slightly before pushing himself upright with his usual air of superiority still somehow intact. His cool silver eyes surveyed Charles' abused form, strapped to the lab table and then eyed this new mystery man with an air of bored, detachment.

"Oh yes. So finally we meet. You know, you just wouldn't believe how exited I am to finally meet you! I mean the two most powerful mutants alive today, here in my lab! I have been waiting for this for well... forever." Oh lovely, a madman. Erik and Charles exchanged the most fleeting of glances to communicate their agreement on this fact. "I mean Erik Lensherr himself! Here! Or- Oh right, of course you prefer to be called Magneto now, don't you?" Magneto didn't reply, simply raised an incredulous eyebrow at the maniac.

"I must say, I'm a big fan of your work." The Maniac continued. Magneto narrowed his eyes slightly. "I have always believed that mutants like yourself, and well, Charlie here..." He smirked coldly down at Charles, and the Professor saw the flicker of hatred in Magneto's eyes. It was gone before the maniac looked up again. "…are the future. Unfortunately, Charlie here doesn't agree." Charles couldn't quite hold back the cry of pain when the maniac yanked the strap around his wrist too tight. Erik's face was stony and unreadable, but Charles knew him well enough to know this maniac had no chance of persuading him. To Magneto, this man was just another Shaw for him to slaughter. He was already dead. He just didn't know it yet.

Charles shifted his attention back to the shadow in the tank. He could feel the alien consciousness inside reaching out to him and so he reached out to it in turn. The mind he felt when he reached it was so unusual, both very complex and very basic. It was like nothing that Charles had ever encountered before in his long life, but at the same time it was so inescapably familiar, as if it was a part of him. The maniac noticed his unfocused eyes and determined expression and pulled the strap tight once again.

"Now, now, Charlie, we'll have none of that." The Maniac assured him. "Besides, it really is pointless even to try. Even you can't break through the collar. I've made sure of that. Now, where were we?"

Charles tuned out the other two as they continued their pointless little conversation and waited until he felt the other consciousness brush against his once more. It sent back an echo of his pain, along with the impression of a question. He sent back soothing impressions in apology. He hadn't meant to project his pain onto the poor thing. His response however was simply reflected straight back at him with an impatient question. The message was clear. I don't understand. He considered this for a moment then sent back a basic explanation of his situation to the other consciousness. Frustration. _**I'm sorry. I can't reach out any farther. It isn't safe.**_ The other hastily absorbed this new information along with everything else he'd sent it. It sent back another question. He tried to control his own frustration. He could feel from the complexity and speed of the other mind that it was definitely clever enough to understand him. It had clearly been denied the proper stimulus for too long. _How long has it been locked up alone in that tank?_ Magneto's gaze dropped down to study his face. Charles shook his head ever so slightly and Magneto looked away again, giving no indication that he'd noticed anything. The other consciousness followed their link back to Charles and pushed at the boundary of his mind impatiently. After only a momentary hesitation, he let it in. It explored his knowledge eagerly, first his emotions, then language, then his memories. When it began to dig too far into his psyche he pushed back gently. _**That's enough now. Some things are not meant for you to see.**_ He explained patiently. _**You know more. I want to know, want to understand.**_ Charles closed his eyes and sent soothing impressions over the link once again. _**I know. I will teach you more, but I cannot right now. It isn't safe.**_ The other considered this. _**Not safe. That is bad?**_ He felt another probing sensation in his language centers.

_**Later.**_ The other decided.

_**I promise.**_ Charles assured, and the other consciousness retreated hesitantly.

* * *

><p>As soon as they were alone in their cell again Magneto rounded on Charles.<p>

"What were you up to Charles? Have you found a way to break through the suppression collar?"

"No. I wish I had. However, I did discover another mutant being kept in the lab. It was the one that broke through."

"It?"

"It had a very unusual signature. I couldn't find any sense of an individual identity or gender…" Charles stared at the wall, unseeing, as he remembered. "It has been kept isolated in that tank for far too long. It didn't understand language until I let it explore my language centers."

"You let a strange, unknown-mutant into your head to have a look around. That's trusting even for you, Charles."

"It didn't mean me any harm." Magneto didn't look convinced. "It didn't want to hurt me. It couldn't even understand the concept without the aid of my experience."

"We need to learn more about this other mutant." Magneto admitted. As skeptical as he was about it, he was curious to see who or what could be powerful enough to punch straight through a suppression field like that.

* * *

><p>Over the next week and a half, Magneto kept up the façade with Mr. Sinister. Mr. Sinister was apparently what the maniac preferred to be called. Magneto preferred to call him the Idiot. This both amused and troubled Charles but Magneto only used that particular moniker when they were alone together in their cell or in the privacy of his own mind. So it wasn't too risky. During each session in the lab, Charles would open up a little more of his mind to the being in the tank. He gradually began to feel the other mind's growing fondness and affection for him as they grew more familiar. There was still not much sense of identity, but there was progress. A very basic personality that was separate from Charles' was forming gradually. The next big development occurred after Charles and Magneto's failed escape attempt.<p>

You see, as it turns out, Mr. Sinister was a mutant too. A psionic mutant, who had agreed to help the military capture his own kind in exchange for their continued sponsorship of his research and the freedom to experiment on captured mutants. They were brought into the lab and he projected intense pain into Charles' mind as punishment while Magneto was forced to watch. He was hoping to use the ensuing rage to his advantage later on.

After the third wave of agony hit something changed. The form in the tank moved. It wasn't a small tremor of movement like the ones that had occurred before. This was a noticeable ripple. Magneto and Charles' eyes met briefly. Yes, they had both seen it.

_**He is affecting you.**_ The mutant in the tank observed. It still wasn't able to process pain but it understood the distress and anger from Charles' mind just fine.

_**Yes. I am unable to block him out.**_ Charles replied apologetically.

_**You do not like it.**_ The silhouette shifted once again as it projected this.

_**No.**_ Charles confirmed. He'd meant to say more but the next wave of pain hit him and he fell out of his chair onto the cold cement floor in front of the tank. He pushed himself up as much as he could and dragged himself over to lean against it. Two arms spread out from the dark shape in the tank as the mutant surged forward with surprising speed despite the many cords attached to it. As it came closer two glowing blue eyes came into view. A slender, pale hand was pressed against the glass beside Charles. He reached up and pressed his hand to the other side and the agony being projected into him ceased as Sinister was caught off guard. Sinister reached up a hand to regain control.

_**He will stop.**_ The boy decided simply, his voice in Charles' mind was growing more distinct, his mind building into a roar in Charles' mind as he formed his first distinctive agenda, a new sense of self and purpose creating a new, more solid persona. There was a rush of power that surged through Charles. It didn't affect him at all. Sinister, on the other hand, let out a startled cry of pain, tears of blood pouring down his cheeks, and dropped to the ground, dead. The soldiers all raised their weapons immediately to aim at either Magneto or Charles. For a moment Charles could only stare at the boy in the tank. A pale boy with dark hair, and now that the glow had died down, he saw impossibly familiar electric blue eyes studying him. I looked away from him to the soldiers and got ready to attack again. _**They are threats.**_ I concluded.

"No! Don't! You don't need to kill them!" Charles exclaimed both telepathically and aloud. I studied him for a moment before pulling back and swimming back into the shadows of my tank. He seemed relieved by my decision. I'm not sure why. There was amused laughter from somewhere behind Charles. He turned to look and saw that it was coming from Sinister's corpse. He got up off the floor and wiped the blood off his face with a fine, silk handkerchief.

"Oh, that was brilliant! This is perfect! You know, I have been trying to get a reaction like that for years! Really, _years_, and you've just done it in well…Oh! Oh, of course it had to be you! Oh that's just so elegant!"

Magneto and Charles exchanged confused looks.

"A genetic, telepathic connection!" Sinister concluded. He then turned to the guards. "I've changed my mind! We're keeping them alive. Especially that one." He informed them, pointing to Charles. "Oh, this is just so exciting!"

* * *

><p><strong>Essex, England: Restricted Zone; June, 2007<strong>

I lay quietly on the drab little grey cot in my featureless, white cell, staring up at the white ceiling. The only furniture in the tiny room other than my cot was a white plexiglass desk and matching white chair that I sat in when Mr. Sinister came to visit for my 'sessions'. Metal was kept out of my cell on the off-chance that I had inherited Magneto's magnekinesis as well as Professor X's telepathy.

It'd been a few weeks since I'd been banned from seeing Charles or Magneto. Sinister, or the Idiot if you prefer, had caught me calling Charles 'Dad' and suffice it to say, he had not been too pleased about it. I hadn't seen either of my 'progenitors' since.

Apparently 'progenitor' is what test tube babies like myself are meant to call their parents. I though the word 'parent' suited just fine; fuck-you-very-much Mr. Sinister, you red-eyed wanker. I knew he'd come by my cell soon for another 'session'. This week he was testing me to see if I really had inherited Magneto's magnekinesis. Ah, there he was. I obediently moved over to sit at the table, like a good little bio-weapon, and he poured some iron shavings out onto the tray in front of me. I didn't like this but I'm no fool. As potent as my telepathy might be, I was still a kid locked in a cell, in the middle of a military facility and the Idiot was virtually immortal.

"Good afternoon, Thirteen." Mr. Sinister said with a smile. Oh yes, that was me: Subject 13. I was an experiment to these people, not a child. "Let's get started shall we?"

I obediently held out my hand over the pile of shavings, fingers splayed, and I focused. What a shock. Nothing. It was almost as if I wasn't magnekinetic. Okay, so I admit: I wasn't actually trying too hard at that point. I'd recently discovered that on top of regular humans having trouble reading me(I hadn't learned facial expressions yet) my unique mind made it equally difficult for any telepaths other than Dad to read me as well.

Sinister usually gave up on the exercise and left me alone after about an hour and a half, but this time hour number two rolled around and he gave no indication he was planning on leaving anytime soon. I started to try a little harder, growing even more frustrated by my lack of progress. Another half hour later, I had still made no progress toward his apparently impossible goal, nor toward my own goal to shove the Iron shavings through certain orifices of his. He finally decided it was time to leave. Perhaps he had picked up on my imminent rage-explosion. He took the tray and the shavings out of the cell with him. I proceeded to have a tantrum. Given my age at the time and my current situation, I feel that I can be excused for this behavior. It was pretty much your average fury induced temper tantrum -until I went to punch the table and instead accidentally converted the sheet draped haphazardly over it into energy with a shrill whistling sound and a minor concussive pulse. Luckily, the pulse temporarily knocked out the surveillance cameras in my cell. So my captors weren't privy to my little discovery. Perfect.

I ended up staying awake after lights out, hidden under my blanket every night, and experimenting with my new power.

At the end of that week, Sinister came to visit me with an even more unsettling look in his eyes.

"Your progenitors have abandoned you." He announced, I already knew that they were gone, of course. I'd heard the racket outside my cell the night before and felt Dad's frustration at not being able to reach me and take me away with them. I gave no indication of this knowledge. The Idiot didn't need to know. "You see, Subject 13, they don't realize how special you truly are. They were chosen because they represented a peak in human evolution. Progress certainly, but you are so much more."

I didn't need this shit. I held my hand out over the iron shavings to begin the pointless exercise and he grabbed my hand in both of his, kneeling down until he was at my eye level. I stared, feeling surprised and disturbed. I think that may have been the first time he'd ever touched me.

"You are the pinnacle of over a century of research, a combination of the very best that evolution has to offer. We have yet even to begin to discover your full potential, and when we do you will show them, Thirteen." He touched my cheek affectionately. "You will show them that they have been made obsolete."

It took another week of practice and preparation before I was ready to make my move.

Sinister came into my cell with a tray and a pair of odd-looking devices that he set down in front of me. This test had something to do with fire I believe… I don't know. To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention. He blathered on about tapping into my potential and progress etc, etc.

I don't think it would've even mattered much to him if he'd noticed that I wasn't listening. He seemed to enjoy talking at someone that, for all he knew, was not even capable of speech. I picked up one of the devices. I could feel it held a huge amount of potential energy, maybe too much for my purposes. I was still just learning the boundaries of my ability, after all.

"We must continue to explore your capabilities. We will strive for perfection." The Idiot ranted. "We have only just begun to discover what you are truly capable of!"

I set the device down on the tray and looked up at him, finally making eye-contact.

"You want to see what I am capable of?" I asked blandly. As I've said before, self expression was still new to me, not that that was a bad thing in this case. Sinister was visibly surprised to hear me speak, but he recovered quickly.

"Yes, yes! I most certainly do." He confirmed, eagerly moving closer. He was too distracted to notice the guard opening the cell door behind him. Shortly before he arrived, I had used my ability and my pillowcase to short out the surveillance cameras, knowing that they would want me to be isolated until the problem was resolved. In one fluid motion I knocked the two devices off of the tray and pushed it up against Sinister's chest, converting it. The concussive pulse sent him flying back into the wall behind him, sandwiching the unfortunate guard between the door and the wall. I stepped over them and hurried out into the hall taking out any soldiers that got in my way as I went.

It really is frightening when the experimental bio-weapon you've been holding captive suddenly breaks loose and causes a ruckus. This is especially so when said bio-weapon has until that point been relatively well-behaved. It took me twenty minutes to get out of the base. It was an interesting experience, going outside for the first time in my life. I didn't really get to savor the moment though. I needed to get out of harms way first, and the Sentinels posed a bit of a problem for me. I was small, which was to my advantage. They had thermal sensors, which most definitely was not. They ended up causing me twice as much trouble as the bloody dogs. At least you can frighten dogs into backing off; machines, not so much. It took me almost another hour to reach someplace I could stop for rest without feeling insane for doing so. A little run-down shack in the middle of who-knows-where.

My feet were cut up and bleeding and I had been shot in the arm at some point. I was fairly sure that was bad news. I passed out on top of a grimy, wooden table in the corner and I don't remember much after that. Just waking up to see a dark-skinned woman with white hair and a worried expression, Ororo or Storm, I would learn later, telling me over and over that it was going to be alright and that I was safe now. Then later waking up briefly to find a big furry someone… I suppose that was probably Beast carrying me. I knew I was safe. I could sense from their minds that these were friends of Dad's. They were here to bring me home.

* * *

><p>.<p>

A/N: Okay guys, sorry about the lateness of this update, but as you may already know, my computer is seriously fucked up. I have to type the new chapters up and post using public computers now so updates are going to be a bit sporadic for a while. I hope that won't be too much of a problem. Anyway, thank you all for reading. I was really looking forward to doing some Flashback/forwards whatever you wanna call them, and I hope you liked it too. The next chapter is going to be back in the sixties timeline again with Charles&Erik and the rest so there's that. I'll try to post it as promptly as I can manage. As always, please review.


	10. Conflicts and Resolutions

**Chapter 10: Conflicts and Resolutions**

Logan left the old inn he'd been staying at and strolled over to put his bag in the back of his truck. He stalled mid-swing, seeing the figure lying in the truck-bed, with a warm-looking, black duster draped over the reclining form. Logan raised an eyebrow, observing this and poked the figure rather rudely with two fingers.

"I'm not asleep." I informed him.

"Get out." Logan ordered gruffly. "I don't need this shit."

"I prefer to think of it as a homage." I replied matter-of-factly, pushing back my coat and getting up. He eyed my face with a characteristically stern expression, taking note of my 'freakishly blue' eyes.

"You're Francis."

"Indeed." I confirmed, hopping down from the back of his truck. "I heard that you were searching for me, and now you've found me. Good for you."

"Great." He remarked sarcastically, thinking rather loudly that I was a brat.

"You called me that before as well, but it sounded a bit more affectionate back then." I looked up to see him giving me a look. "Ah, well. Are we going somewhere or aren't we?"

He made the irritated sound that my presence tended to occasionally provoke from him and swung his bag into the back, then walked over to get in the driver's side. I watched him expectantly.

"Just get in the truck, Kid." I complied, deciding to remain quiet for now. After all, _this_ Logan didn't know me. I would have to be mindful of my effect on him for a while.

* * *

><p>When they got to the mansion, Erik broke away from the group, almost as soon as they were inside. Raven had agreed to give the others the tour. After all, it would be fun for her, a way for her to show off to her new friends. Charles was grateful for this. He hadn't been looking forward to returning here. There were too many bad memories, but the place suited their needs and he wasn't about to let the ghosts of his past get in the way. He saw Erik wandering away from them and followed him. Halfway down the hall, Erik stopped abruptly.<p>

"I know you're there, Charles."

"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you, my friend." Charles assured him, walking around to face him.

"Why are you following me?"

"You're upset. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help."

"Stay out of my head." Erik ordered, coolly. Charles tried not to show how much that stung.

"I am not in your head. I told you I would stay out, and I have. I merely know you well enough to notice when you're feeling tense. If something is troubling you… If you'd rather not discuss it, I understand." Charles clarified, looking away as he considered just leaving the other man alone for a while. He had his own stressful issues to struggle with, after all.

"Did you know about Shaw's plan to attack the CIA base?" Erik asked suddenly. Very smooth Erik, great social skills. This time, Charles couldn't quite mask his reaction. He felt like he'd just been punched. He stared at Erik, unsure of how to respond. The accusation was a bit too close to home.

"You were behaving strangely ever since we left for Russia. You knew that something was going to happen and-" Finally, Charles started to get angry._ Is that really all Erik thought of him? Did he know him so little? He, at least, thought he'd earned himself the benefit of the doubt by now. He'd given Erik more than that, despite all he'd seen._

"Of course I didn't! I knew something was going to happen, but I didn't know _that!_" Charles snapped, venomously. Erik stared. He'd never seen Charles get mad before. It doesn't happen often. "I would _never_ have knowingly left them to that- left my _sister_ to face that! When have I ever done anything that would make you think I was even capable of abandoning any of you in such a way! You might be, Erik, but I never would!" Okay, so that last bit just sort of slipped out. Charles was still feeling traumatized by the return of his premonition. Understandable I think, even if he himself didn't seem to see it that way. His jaw snapped shut with a click and he closed his eyes, reigning himself in until his signature faded away, to the point that Erik, who was standing right in front of him, could barely feel him. Erik reached out to touch his shoulder. He flinched away without opening his eyes and Erik pulled his hand back.

"Charles…"

"I- I can't." Charles said in a neutral tone and opened his eyes to look over Erik's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just…" He cleared his throat and pushed past Erik, to head back the way they'd come. "Excuse me."

* * *

><p>He ended up locking himself in his spacious bedroom, to lie limply on his large four-poster bed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to sort through the mess that was his life. Raven came by, got irritated with him when he wouldn't respond, got even more irritated when she discovered he'd locked both doors, and stomped over to her bed to stew over it. Five minutes later, she stopped outside the door from the connecting bathroom, between their rooms to say a grumpy sounding:<p>

"Sorry." Then stalked off again, still radiating agitation. That had been an hour ago. Charles barely noticed.

"You're acting weird." I observed as I studied him from my place in the ornate, antique armchair in the corner to his right.

_**I'm thinking. As you are aware, I have quite a bit on my mind lately.**_ Charles projected back. That was new. This younger Charles had never shown any inclination towards that before.

"So you're not moping." I replied waving my projection's hand through the top of his bedside table a couple of times for amusement.

_**Are you sure you've never met my sister before? The two of you would get along splendidly.**_

"No doubt." I sighed, and popped my projection's knuckles. Dad always hated it when I did that. I was hoping it would get a reaction. Charles just frowned disapprovingly, but didn't cease his staring contest with the ceiling. "So Erik doesn't completely trust you. So what? I warned you not to get too attached to him. It's probably for the best."

_**I need him.**_

"Trust me; you don't. You just think you do."

_**I know you're Marie's cousin.**_

"Okay, Random. Congrats on that, and you're point in telling me this?"

_**Just because you saw my future does not mean you know everything about me.**_ Charles finally looked over at me. _**You have your doubts about this too. It wouldn't affect you this way otherwise.**_

I frowned at him, uncertainly.

_**Your projected façade is perfectly intact, however, unless I am mistaken, my accent does not sound that…Cockney.**_

"I'm not Cockney. I'm from Essex." He gave me a blank look. "I guess the Estuary accent must be anachronistic. Whatever, it isn't important. You guessed who I am already anyway."

_**You're still projecting a façade.**_

"I know. Listen, this thing with Erik… just deal with it. We don't have much time to muck about." I replied and then receded. Relationship nonsense was never my thing.

* * *

><p>"What did you do?" Raven asked angrily from the doorway to Erik's criminally-white bedroom. Erik eyed her warily. She was standing just inside his room with her hands on her hips, glaring at him.<p>

"Perhaps if you clarified your point a little further, Raven, you would get an answer."

"What the hell did you say to Charles?" Raven snapped acidly. "He's pulled completely away from me, he won't reply to anything that I project, which he's never done, even after Mom died, and now he's locked himself in his room and refuses to come out! What. Did. You. Do?"

"I may have said something." Erik admitted, cursing himself internally for not being able to look her in the eye. Raven's scales flickered in a cascade of blue over her body and she looked like she might hit him. Erik didn't really care if she hit him. He felt that he probably deserved it anyway, at this point.

"What?" Raven inquired, stepping closer with her arms crossed over her chest. Erik hesitated for a moment before admitting.

"I asked him if he knew about Shaw's attack-" Raven slapped him hard, across the face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" She demanded furiously. Erik rubbed his bruised jaw.

"Many things."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Raven continued loudly. "He wouldn't have kept quiet about something like that! You should know better by now!"

"Keep your voice down." Erik instructed evenly. Raven just glared at him even harder.

"What, afraid the others are going to overhear? You screwed up, Erik. Why should I care if they hear what a dick you are?" Erik grabbed her by the arms and looked her sternly in the eye.

"You _should_ care if someone overhears us, because we are currently training for a mission and we are being targeted by an unknown, clearly lethal threat. If the others think that there is something wrong with Charles or me, it will affect the team's morale, therefore weakening us. Now, lower your voice."

Raven swallowed, and gave a curt nod.

"Why did you think he was lying?"

"I didn't." Erik admitted. Raven crossed her arms over her chest to keep herself from hitting him again. She was surprised he hadn't slapped her back the first time and wasn't going to push her luck. He continued. "He was acting strangely during our trip to Russia. He's seemed to be hiding something from me even before that, but in Russia… He knew something was going to happen. He even said as much. It seemed like nonsense at the time but then Shaw attacked the base and… It seemed as though he'd seen it coming somehow."

"That's impossible. Charles can't predict the future. He's just a telepath." Raven said, although she sounded doubtful.

"My thoughts exactly." Erik replied stiffly, before pushing past her out of the room. She stood there for minute, mulling things over before turning quickly and chasing after him.

"Erik!"

He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at her questioningly as she jogged up to him.

"I know you're probably really mad right now but could you maybe do me a tiny favor?"

He eyed her suspiciously.

"It's for Charles." Raven added quickly, looking hopefully up at him. He noted with distain that she was giving him that puppy-dog look he'd seen her use on Charles a couple of times before.

* * *

><p>Charles was still lying on his bed, on his back, staring vacantly up at the ceiling. There was a soft click from the door to his right and he felt more than saw Raven slip quietly into the room. Erik's presence retreated from just outside the doorway as she shut it behind her with a whispered:<p>

"Thanks."

She crept over to the bed just as quietly and sat down on the mattress. She got into a comfortable position beside him leaning back against the dark wood of the headboard, and waited for him to acknowledge her presence. Finally, after a long, drawn-out silence Charles finally spoke.

"I keep trying to be better. I thought I could make things right but instead of fixing my mistakes, I've only made them worse." Charles confided sadly. Raven leaned to the left slightly to look down at his face.

"I'm not sure what that means."

He let out a little puff of air, not quite a laugh not quite a sigh and opened his eyes to look up at her.

"Onslaught showed me something. I think it's what my future will be, if I don't find a way to stop it. I forgot what he showed me before. I didn't want to believe it." Charles closed his eyes and swallowed sadly. "If I had just remembered it sooner, I might have been able to save them… I don't know what to do."

Raven looked at the old, teak wardrobe against the wall facing them, doing her best to process her brother's confession. He studied her silently then grasped her hand.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"You really were keeping secrets?"

"Yes. I thought… I'm sorry." Charles replied.

"Why?" Raven asked. Charles looked away sadly. He honestly didn't know how to explain his actions. He hadn't known whom to trust, but it would hardly do to just tell her that. He didn't want to hurt her, but he realized that he may have kept silent at least partly out of a lack of trust. "Okay. So you remember what he showed you now, right?" Raven continued, pulling herself together. Charles nodded. "So, what if I helped you? If you have someone else's help, maybe we can stop whatever he warned you about. Can you show me?"

"I don't know if you want to see."

"I do."

"You can't be sure."

"Charles I'm a big girl. I can handle it." Raven insisted stubbornly. Charles opened his mouth to reply but she kept talking. "Look, I get it. You're you, so you thought you'd just quietly suffer alone like the martyr you are, without letting anyone know, but whatever it is, I'm bound to find out sooner or later anyway. Let me help you."

They stared at each other stubbornly for a while before Charles finally sighed and touched his fingers to his temple in the familiar gesture and Raven closed her eyes and leaned back, ready to see what he had to show her.

"Stop me if it's too much." Charles told her uncertainly. She nodded and he began to stream the projected memories into her mind.

Her eyes snapped open as the vision finished. She slipped into her natural blue form in shock. Her cheeks were streaked with tears. Charles was watching her with a concerned expression.

"Raven, are you alright?" He questioned tentatively. She grabbed him and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry." She told him earnestly. "I can't believe I just—"

"Shhh… It's alright. You haven't done anything wrong." Charles assured her, hugging her back.

"You mean I haven't done anything wrong, _yet_. That's why you didn't tell us, isn't it?" She replied darkly with a sniff, pulling back to look him in the eyes. He looked away guiltily.

"I'm not going anywhere." Raven declared determinedly. "That's just one possible future. We'll change it. Together."

* * *

><p>.<p>

A/N:So, yeah... Francis=Thirteen. Dun, dun, dunnnn. I hope you liked this. I thought I'd go easy on our dear mutant characters for a bit, so that poor Charles doesn't completely crack under the pressure. He started to crack a little anyway, but it's better than what could have happened. Thank you all for reading this. Special thanks to EvilChick13. As always I hope you review, this chapter was extremely nerve-wracking so it would be nice to hear how I did.


	11. Invasion

**Chapter 11: The Invasion**

Raven and Marie exchanged meaningful looks across the dinner table. They eyed Charles, who was eating with unnecessary focus on his food. This was probably to avoid acknowledging Erik, who was eating just as silently at the other end of the table. All of the others were stuck in the resulting awkward silence, unsure of what to do about the older-mutants' odd behavior. There were a couple of failed attempts to coax them into conversation but they were feeble at best.

The others all eventually split up into small, quiet conversations while Charles and Erik faded into the background in their mutual, isolated silence.

"You really haven't dealt with him by now?" I asked in annoyance as my projection rested its chin in its folded arms on the corner of the table in between Charles and Raven's plates. Charles just took another bite of his food, pretending not to notice.

"Don't ignore me." I pretended to lick his food as it passed by me on its way to his mouth. He hesitated, then put his fork down. "Much better."

_**It isn't your concern.**_ I just watched him expectantly. He sighed softly before continuing. _**He's sorry about what he said. I would simply rather not bring it up. It isn't an issue.**_

"There's something else… You told her!"

_**That's invasive. Please remember to respect my privacy.**_

"Yes, yes. You told her?" I asked at the same time as Raven asked:

"Charles, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Charles assured her, flashing her a brief, reassuring smile.

_**I trust her. She is my family. If we are to attempt to change the future, we mustn't let foreseen events limit our decisions.**_

"And if you're wrong and good intentions aren't enough?"

_**Then why should I trust you?**_

My projection stood up and shrugged.

"Fair enough. Listen, I'm with Logan now. He's bringing me to you. We should be there in a few days."

Charles raised an eyebrow as my projection flickered. I noticed his right hand flex, as if trying to grab at the table-top. He seemed unaware of it. I brushed it off as a minor muscle spasm. "I've got to go. Logan's prodding at me again." And with that, I receded.

* * *

><p>"Yes, Logan?" I inquired shortly as I opened my eyes. Logan was standing outside holding my door open.<p>

"We're getting dinner." He informed me, nodding toward the diner that we were parked at.

"Thank you." I replied with a nod and hopped out of the truck following him into the diner. I scanned the emotions of the others inside as we passed, on the way to our table. Logan scowled at me again as we sat down.

"I'm merely picking up the open signals, Logan. There's no need to look so disapproving." I told him, looking calmly up into his eyes.

"Whatever." Logan dismissed and searched the menu in front of him disinterestedly. "Pick something." He ordered, when he saw that I didn't even glance at the menu.

"I'll just have whatever you're having."

He raised an eyebrow at me as the waitress walked up. I looked out the window at the night sky and the occasional passing lights of cars while he ordered for us, not really paying much attention. My thoughts were still on Mystique or Raven, as she was currently known. I didn't expect that this one would be like the Mystique that I grew up knowing… not after the things I had seen in Dad's memories, but I must admit, there was the tiniest spark of hope. I thought back to the first time we met…

* * *

><p><strong>Westchester, New York: Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters; July 2007<strong>

I sat alone on the loveseat in my designated corner of the living room. There was a group of older kids conversing not far from my seat. I was attempting to study their facial expressions, but whenever one of them spotted me staring they would turn away or leave.

Pretty much all of the other kids avoided me. The only reason they put up with me at all was because I was 'Professor X's kid'. They thought I was weird, even for a mutant. Rogue had spoken to me a couple of times, but this was a hectic time for her and she didn't have much to spare on socializing. She was currently sitting over by the door, having another argument with the scaly, blue woman I'd seen her arguing with before. Ah yes, Dad's sister. Was it Mystique or Raven, now? It didn't concern me. So I ignored them, focusing on my attempts at observation.

After a while I felt someone sit down beside me on the loveseat. Oh, so they must've finished arguing, for now.

"Hey. What's going on over here?" Dad's sister asked in a friendly tone. I shrugged. I'd mastered that one last week. She had noticed the way that I always sat alone, unless I was with Dad, always watching everyone else. She thought I looked lonely.

"What are you up to?" She tried again. I looked at her curiously, brushing the surface of her mind to try and find her meaning. She welcomed me in and patiently waited for me to find what I needed.

"What am I doing." I concluded, receding once again. "I'm learning faces. My progress is currently hindered by a lack of data."

"I see." She responded, with a slight smile. I went back to trying to observe the others. Her yellow eyes flicked between me and the others, noticing my latest subject turning away and blocking my view. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Hmm. Okay, tell you what, Kiddo." Mystique said, moving to kneel in front of me so that we were at the same eyelevel. "Why don't we go to the kitchen and see if we can find something nice to eat and I can show you all the faces you want before I have to go."

I considered her offer.

"I believe that would be agreeable." I concluded, taking her proffered hand and letting her lead me out of the room.

"I'm your Aunt Mystique, by the way."

"I know. My name is Francis Xavier." I informed her matter-of-factly. She smiled again. "Aunt Mystique, what's a sweetheart?"

* * *

><p>Logan snapped his fingers in front of my face. Pulling me back to the present.<p>

_**WHAT?**_ I projected loudly, smirking when he winced.

"Food's here." He clarified, indicating the full plates of food on the table between us. "Don't do that again."

"To what behavior are you referring?" I asked mischievously. "Zoning out?"

_**OR THIS?**_ Logan growled.

"Don't push it."

"Understood, but tell me, Logan. Don't you want to help save the world?"

"Not when you're around." Logan answered gruffly, taking a bite of his potato.

"You've never let me stop you before." I countered smoothly. He narrowed his eyes, but then just brushed it off.

"Eat your dinner… Brat." I smiled. It was strange how much I'd missed that. Maybe some things never change.

* * *

><p>After dinner, Charles fled to the library, just as he had done countless times before in his youth. This time, it was Erik who followed him. Charles sat down and began to set up the chess-board as Erik entered.<p>

"Charles…"

"Do you play?" Charles asked casually, as if he didn't already know the answer.

"Excuse me?"

"Chess. Do you play chess?"

"Well, yes. I do, but that's not why I came here." Erik replied, still a bit taken aback. Charles indicated the chair opposite his.

"Join me, my friend." He said, looking up at Erik expectantly. He made the first move before continuing. "I know why you're here. It's alright. I understand that trust doesn't come easily to you. I shouldn't have expected any different."

Erik moved a pawn forward and looked up from the board at Charles, the fingers on his right hand were flexing again in a subconscious, grasping motion. _I wonder if he realizes that he keeps doing that._

"It's not that I don't trust you." He clarified, earnestly. Charles lost his grip on the chess piece he'd been about to move, upon hearing the too-familiar phrase and the piece went rolling onto the floor with a clatter. Charles cleared his throat uncomfortably, moving to retrieve it. Erik called it back to the board with a lazy curl of his fingers, not taking his eyes off Charles.

"You've been acting strangely for the past few weeks." He explained, his silver eyes searching Charles' pale face. "You seem to be hiding something."

"Everyone has secrets. If that weren't true, others would be far more accepting of people like me." Charles pointed out. Flex.

"I have told you before; humans reject those that they view as different." Erik responded, moving another piece. Charles sighed.

"I wasn't referring to humans." He clarified. "We aren't as different as you would prefer to believe. You all react more or less the same in my experience." Erik's gaze flicked up from the board. "No one really wants someone else in his head… Well, no one but a telepath, I suppose." Charles moved a piece into position and looked up to find Erik staring at him. "I meant no offense, my friend."

"I didn't mean to reject you."

"I know. I understand it better now. We are frightening, sometimes, even to each other." Charles assured him. "It's your move."

Erik considered the board in silence for a long moment, digesting this new information before replying simply:

"I'm not afraid of you, Charles."

Charles smiled sadly.

"I'm glad. My point was that I am used to keeping secrets. I have been doing it all my life. I only do because I know that I have to. I know things that I probably shouldn't. I have learned that I need to be very careful with that knowledge, even with the people closest to me. "

Erik's expression softened.

"Charles, I-" A scream that could only have come from Banshee, and a loud crash cut him off. Charles' brow furrowed in concentration as he reached out telepathically to check on the others.

"Oh dear." He commented and rose from his chair to go join them.

"What the hell, Banshee?" Alex exclaimed, as he and Raven lowered their hands from where they had been clamped over their ears. Raven looked at the shattered remains of the ornate, antique vase on the floor in front of her.

"Sorry, Raven." Sean apologized, seeing her expression darken. "I didn't mean to break your vase. I was aiming at him."

Alex scoffed indignantly.

"Seriously? Shut up Banshee!"

Marie and Darwin came downstairs. Marie took one look at Raven's stony expression and the broken vase and went right back upstairs. She recognized it as Mystique's favorite.

"Don't tell me to shut up! You started it anyway!" Sean shouted.

"What are you, twelve?" Alex shot back incredulously.

"What's your excuse?" Sean responded, smiling ever-so-slightly, even as he shoved Alex's chest. Was he stoned? Alex glared and shoved back.

"Come on, guys, settle down." Darwin suggested, setting the glass of water that he was holding down on the side table next to him so that he could pull the two apart. Raven silently slipped a coaster under his glass. "Oh, um; thanks." Darwin told her. She nodded, mutely.

"You have got to be the most obnoxious guy I've met in my life; also, you _suck_ at apologies." Alex informed the other mutant after Darwin let him go.

"You're a big glowing jerk!" Sean replied. As soon as Darwin let him go he pushed Alex's face.

"You smell like weed!" Alex shouted back, shoving Sean away. Darwin darted forward and caught him just before he knocked into an old portrait that was hanging on the wall behind him.

"Alex!" Raven shrieked, preparing to really start yelling at them.

"See?" Banshee exclaimed, unwisely. Darwin shook his head.

"Oh my God." Raven said, finishing in perfect unison with Alex. "Shut up, Banshee!"

"What exactly is going on here?" Erik asked silkily, announcing his and Charles' arrival. All the younger mutants froze. Alex swallowed and stood straighter. Banshee paled. They all started talking at once.

"Never mind." Charles interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No more roughhousing indoors, please. I prefer our property to remain more or less intact."

"What? That's it?" Raven inquired, clearly dissatisfied. "They've barely been here for a day and they're already destroying our stuff!"

"Which is why they will be the ones to clean it up." Erik stated reasonably. Alex opened his mouth to speak, but his argument vanished from his mind when Erik looked over at him.

"Yes, Sir." He agreed. Banshee nodded curtly. Raven glared at Erik.

"Oh, excuse me. I must have missed it when they put you in charge." She grumbled sarcastically. Erik considered her icily.

"Hey, come on." Darwin said, hoping to keep everyone civil. "I think we should take a moment –"

"Who asked you?" Alex cut in.

"You know, you really need to get control of that attitude of yours." Darwin replied. The metal around them began to tremble as Erik's temper flared.

"Wait!" Raven cried, grabbing Charles' sleeve. "I don't know why I'm mad."

"What?" Sean asked. No one but the two Xaviers seemed to follow. Charles touched his temple, closing his eyes in concentration. He opened them again looking very serious.

"We're being skimmed." He reported. Raven hesitated for a moment before she hurried upstairs to fetch Moira. _He kinda looks paler than usual._

"Skimmed? What does that mean?" Darwin inquired.

"There's another telepath somewhere on the grounds." Charles explained closing his eyes again. "Where are you…?" Erik stepped closer watching his friend's face.

"Charles?" He was beginning to look far too pale.

"If I can just… There! West side near the—" Charles winced. "Ah! No."

"Charles!" Erik exclaimed. Charles's face contorted in a silent scream and he collapsed into Erik's arms.

"_Verdammt_!" Erik slowly cradled Charles down to the floor and checked his pulse. The pace was erratic.

He glanced up at the others. "Go. Find Hank." They just stared down at Charles in shock. "Now!" Erik barked and they snapped out of it and went to fetch the young genius. Marie came down the stairs.

"Oh my gosh!" She knelt down next to him. "How bad is it?" She ignored Erik's glare and patted Charles' cheek, quirking her lip to the side in dissatisfaction. "No response. Shit!" She took a deep breath, glancing over at Erik. "Don't kill me for this." She told him, before pulling back and slapping Charles.

"You-" Erik began furiously, causing the metal around them to vibrate once again, but was cut off by a sharp gasp from Charles. Then Charles' eyes snapped open. Instead of the familiar, vivid blue there was nothing but dark, inky, black.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:**Dun, dun, DUNNN. Yeah I know, it probably isn't too cool of me to leave it on a cliff-hanger like this but I just couldn't resist. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and umm I only just realized that the mention of wee-Francis/13's age got edited out of the flash-back/forward chapter so um for those of you wondering, he was 13 years old in 2007. Thank you all for reading. Special thanks go to mildetryth and Greeniron for reviewing. Gotta go now. Oh, please review!


	12. The Sleeper and the Son

**Chapter 12: The Sleeper and the Son**

My eyes snapped open as I felt it-or rather, I suddenly didn't. I sat up straighter and touched my temple, closing my eyes in concentration. Logan glanced over at me curiously.

"You alright—" He began. I shushed him, trying to focus. I had just lost the link with Dad. That shouldn't happen. It was always there even if we were oceans apart. There should be a subtle connection, at least. I reached my mind out for him, trying not to think about the only other time I had experienced this unpleasant void where his presence was meant to be. I gasped sharply as my consciousness was forcibly thrust away before I could even make contact, throwing me right back into my head without the slightest warning. I imagine it would've hurt as well, if I'd been capable of experiencing pain. Logan looked over at me again.

"That's it." He growled hitting the brakes. "Tell me what's wrong with you."

"I've lost the link—" I explained, pausing to steady my breathing. I had to at least attempt to remain calm. "Someone's blocking me."

Logan raised an eyebrow at my obvious disbelief.

"So it's another one." He noted, sounding simultaneously annoyed and unimpressed.

"This shouldn't be." I informed him, irritably closing my eyes and preparing to try another attempt. "Not with our link." The block was still effectively cutting off my link with Dad, but what about…

* * *

><p>Charles awoke on the astral plane and studied his surroundings. He was standing in the center of a projection of endless, impenetrable darkness. He looked down at his own astral form. His suit was creamy-white and he appeared radiant, as if lit by a bright spot light. He looked up, but of course above him there was the same inky blackness. There came a sound of soft footsteps. Someone was circling him, someone invisible.<p>

"Amahl Farouk, I presume." Charles greeted, ignoring the way his voice echoed endlessly through the space around him. He knew the other telepath was just trying to intimidate him. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"But of course I am, Charlie." Came a dozen voices, whispered from all directions, again Charles chose not to react to his theatrics. A chorus of mocking little clucking sounds of disapproval echoed around him. "Oh, dear. You've forgotten me so easily. Perhaps I did over estimate your potential all those years ago."

"What is it you want from me? If you were here to kill me, I am certain you would have already done so." Charles stated calmly. A dark silhouette flashed in and out of view for a split second, still circling him.

"Tell me…" The whispers chorused again. "…about the boy." Charles' eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Oh, now don't play dumb, Charlie. It doesn't suit you. Tell me about the other little telepath."

Charles' jaw tensed and in mere seconds every thought, memory, or impression that Charles had ever had about young Onslaught was sealed away, deep within the hidden recesses of his subconscious. He might not completely trust the boy, but there was no way in hell he was letting this killer anywhere near him. Laughter echoed around him.

"Oh, come now, Charlie. You were doing so well!" Farouk taunted, "You don't want to make me force it out of you, now do you?"

"I would rather you didn't." Charles replied honestly. "But I'm not going to help you regardless."

More laughter echoed louder and louder around him.

"Oh, my dear boy… of course you will."

* * *

><p>Raven and Moira came running down the stairs to join Marie and Erik at Charles side.<p>

"Charles!" Raven exclaimed dropping down next to Marie. She reached out to touch his cheek, but gasped and yanked it away as if burned when his eyes fluttered open again to reveal the jet black orbs they had become. "It's him! Moira, It's Farouk! We have to stop him."

"Shit. Okay, what do you know about his range? I need somewhere to start looking." Moira replied, running a hand through her hair.

"He can't be far." Marie spoke up. The others all stared at her. "Looks like he's tryin' for possession. That's why the Professor's eyes look like that. So unless he can channel through multiple hosts I'm bettin' he's somewhere on the grounds." She paused for a moment, considering Charles' unconscious form. "He's still fightin' back pretty effectively, so either he's a lot more experienced or Farouk's really pushin' his limit already… maybe the edge of the grounds?" Raven studied Marie's face thoughtfully before nodding her agreement.

"He's splitting his focus." She added, locking eyes with the other woman.

"The woods." They concluded in unison. Then they all looked down as Charles' body began to shake.

"We have to sever the connection fast." Raven observed worriedly.

"West." Erik said suddenly, looking up at Moira. "Just before he collapsed, he mentioned the west side of the grounds."

"Okay." Moira said decisively, checking the cylinder of her gun before popping it back into place, and heading for the doors. "If I'm not back in ten minutes I want you to get the hell out of here." Marie rose to follow her. "No. You stay here. I'm not losing anymore of my people on this."

Marie opened her mouth to argue.

"Marie." Erik called her attention back to them and beckoned for her to rejoin them. She hesitated.

"I can help you." She insisted but Moira ignored her, hurrying outside without sparing her a single glance. "Damnit."

_**Marie, what's happened? Why am I being blocked?**_ I projected into her mind.

"Rogue?" Raven questioned, seeing the way she'd suddenly stilled.

_**I haven't got time for this, Cuz. Just pull out. We can't talk right now.**_ Marie replied briskly.

"Yeah, sorry." She mumbled apologetically, returning to her place beside Raven.

_**Why? What is happening? Please clarify**_. I insisted snarkily. Marie's jaw tightened as she tried to mask her growing irritation. Raven and Erik were arguing about how to snap Charles out of it, but she was only half listening, having no ideas on the matter herself.

_**It's dangerous. We're bein' attacked by a powerful enemy telepath. Now back off before he senses you!**_

_**Fine, **_I projected coolly._** But perhaps you didn't realize the implications of my earlier message: **__**I'M**__** being blocked.**_ Marie blinked, sitting back on her haunches as the reality of the situation finally hit her.

"Marie? Are you even listening?" Erik asked angrily. Raven glanced over at her, her eyes narrowing again.

"I was wrong…"

"About what?" Raven asked. "What are you talking about? Marie!" Marie jumped up and ran at top speed out the door. "Shit!" Raven cursed, frustrated and struck the table next to her, knocking down Darwin's glass of water as she did. It splashed Charles' face.

"Raven." Erik snapped.

"Sorry, I—" Raven began, before noticing the flicker of blue in her brother's eyes. "No wait! Did you see that? That's it!"

* * *

><p>When Moira finally spotted the large muscular looking figure on the edge of the tree line, she instantly noticed that something was… off, about him. It looked like he'd been wearing the same clothes for quite a while. In fact, his clothing was dirty and torn. There were cuts and scratches here and there on his arms that he had clearly made no effort whatsoever to tend to.<p>

"Stop what you're doing right now!" She ordered, aiming her weapon at him. He turned to look at her expressionlessly. His eyes were the same strange, jet-black as Charles' had become. He reached up to pull something out of his bloodstained pocket. "No. Keep your hands where I can see them and come toward me slowly." She warned. He smiled, and that was when she noticed the gash in his cheek that cut though to widen one side of his mouth, it was obviously terribly infected but he didn't seem to care. He stretched his mouth open in a gruesome, gaping yawn and the shrubs and grass in front of him began to shrivel up and die in a spreading pattern of death that was stretching straight towards her. "Oh my God!"

Marie ran up just a few meters to her left. She looked from Moira to the spreading path of destruction heading towards her to the somnambulist that the Shadow King was apparently using as his channel.

"Get out of the way!" She yelled but Moira didn't seem to hear her. The somnambulist took a step forward. Moira shot at him pointlessly. "That's no good! Just run!"

Marie closed her eyes and projected as loudly as she could manage, focusing on my signature.

_**Francis! Are you getting this?**_ I hesitated to answer. _**Damnit Cuz, I know I told you to back off but I also know you! You've gotta still be trackin' me, so please just answer me!**_

_**Yes, My dear. You screeched? **_I responded dryly.

_**We're in trouble. I need your help. You need to possess me.**_

_**You were rather rude to me earlier.**_

_**I know. I'm sorry…**_

I remained silent.

_**Oh for the love of… Please Francis, my dearest, most favorite cousin would you please help me stop the murderous psycho from killing us all?**_

_**Well, when you put it like that…**_ I ignored her eye-roll and slipped into her head to take control.

"Ah, I see. Why won't she just make a run for it?"

_**Francis! **_

"Alright! Alright!" I dove forward slamming Marie's hand into the somnambulist's chest and shoving the Shadow King out of him. The added stress of this unfortunately, stopped the poor blokes heart, but oh well, for all I know that was an improvement for him at this point.

"Rogue! No!" Moira cried out behind us. The strange black cloud of living smoke that was the Shadow King whirled and writhed angrily at its sudden eviction, flowing downward to pour across the ground toward us like a tidal-wave of spilt ink. "That's new." I observed, before spinning around and tackling Moira out of its path.

"Hey what the—" The baffled agent broke off in mid-sentence, catching sight of Marie's glowing eyes.

"Honestly woman! Just think, will you? You should be bloody thankful that Marie is not a strong believer in Darwinism." I scolded, not at all bothered by the strangeness of hearing my brash English accent spoken in Marie's feminine voice. The astral cloud pushed against Marie's back and recoiled when it made contact with her skin. That's interesting… maybe he _is_ the cloud. Moira's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. "Oh, that's an idea…"

"What idea? Wait. Who are you?" Moira asked indignantly as I rolled Marie off of her.

"Onslaught. And you're welcome." I informed her. She narrowed her eyes at me. I sighed. "Humans." And retreated from Marie's mind.

"Rogue?" Moira asked after the blue light was completely gone from Marie's dark brown eyes.

"Uhhh… Yeah, it's me." Rogue confirmed, sounding exhausted.

"You okay?" Marie nodded, then sat up remembering the time limit. "We need to get back, our time's almost up."

* * *

><p>Raven led the others hurriedly up the stairs to the bathroom that connected her room to Charles'. Darwin held the door open for Erik (who was insistent that he, alone, carry Charles although first Alex, then Darwin had offered to help). Raven went over and turned the taps on full flow. Alex helped Erik carefully lower Charles into the water and they waited for the tub to fill. As the water level rose, Charles' tremors faded away more and more. Once the tub was full, they waited tensely, only to see no other change. Charles' eyelids fluttered. His eyes were still pitch-black.<p>

"It might just be a coincidence." Hank said quietly from where he was leaning against the counter behind Alex.

"Got any better ideas, Bozo?" Alex snapped as Raven's face fell.

"His eyes changed back. I saw it." She insisted desperately. Memories of a younger Charles lying motionless in a lonely hospital bed haunted her mind.

"This isn't working." Darwin admitted darkly. Raven shook her head, a tear streaking down her cheek.

"He has to wake up." She whispered. "It has to work."

"It worked before, right?" Alex reminded them, squeezing Raven's shoulder comfortingly. Erik just kept silently watching Charles, most likely tuning everything else out.

"When you splashed his face…" Hank finished thoughtfully.

"It's not working." Raven admitted tearfully.

"It still can." Hank concluded, surprising everyone as he pushed past Alex and shoved Charles' head under the water.

"Hank!" Alex exclaimed, grabbing the young scientist's arm. Raven shrieked. Erik snapped out of his trance to try to push Hank away. He turned out to be quite a bit stronger than he looked. Suddenly, a hand shot up out of the water and grabbed Hank's sleeve. He immediately released his grip and backed off. Charles burst up out of the water, coughing and gasping for air, clearly Charles once again, splashing half the water out onto the pale pink and ivory colored tiles… and Erik. Miraculously no one was killed.

"Charles! You're okay!" Raven shouted joyfully, making Alex flinch. She'd basically yelled right into his ear. Charles looked dazedly around at them all as Erik helped him stand, catching him when he stumbled. "Are you okay? You'd better be okay."

"Mmm." Charles murmured, scrunching up his face and rubbing his temples. "Oh yes, 'm fine."

"Charles?" Erik questioned. The smaller man was leaning on him rather heavily.

"I'll be fine. It's just a headache." Charles clarified weakly. The others exchanged doubtful glances. As Charles slumped, Alex and Erik caught him just in time to keep him from knocking his head on the sink.

"Hank?" Erik prompted.

"I'm on it." Hank replied. Raven wrapped Charles up in a towel and they led him over to his bed. Hank checked him over and discovered he had extremely low blood sugar, but was otherwise unaffected by his possession. Eventually, after his blood sugar was returning to normal, Charles was left to rest with Erik sitting silently in the old armchair near his bed. No one tried to dissuade him of this. His stony expression was reason enough to let him be. He was, at least pretending to read. Just as Raven was saying goodnight, she heard Charles mutter something under his breath. Francis. Her brow furrowed and she looked back at him curiously, but he was already fast asleep.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N: **Okay, so... yeah, that was that chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I did, or at least I enjoyed watching the way that the somnambulist freaked out my beta. Yeah, I know, I am a terrible person, but hey, I can write so...yay! Sorry, I'm in a weird mood at the moment. Anyway, thank you for reading this. Special thanks for this round go to EvilChick13, who I imagine will be relieved that this is not another cliff-hanger. Alright, well gotta go now. As always, please review.


	13. Bloodlines

**Chapter 13: Bloodlines**

After several failed attempts to sleep in the shitty-little-motel that Logan had checked us into for the night, I decided to bother Dad instead.

"Are you awake" My projection whispered into his ear.

"Mnhf! Why-y-y!" He complained sleepily, then startled awake. "Oh, it's just you. Of course it is." He observed, earning himself a curious glare from his stalker... I mean Erik, who was sitting in the nearby armchair 'reading'. "Onslaught." Charles announced by way of an explanation. Erik's expression darkened and he snapped the book shut. I scoffed.

"He was never reading Freud." I remarked, prompting Charles to peek at the spine before remembering himself.

"What could you possibly need from me at this hour of the night?" He inquired, paused a beat, then asked: "What time is it?"

"One o'clock in the morning." Erik and I answered in unison.

"That was strange." Charles noted, looking back and forth between the two of us.

"What was?" Erik queried.

"You both just..." Charles leaned back against the headboard drawing in a tired breath. "It isn't important. What is it?"

"I couldn't sleep. Thought I'd check in on you and see if you were awake." Charles stared at me for a moment before replying. Erik went back to his 'reading'.

"...By waking me up."

"I whispered."

"...Into my mind, which defeats the entire purpose of whispering."

"Well yes. It does, however it allows me to point out afterward that I _did_ whisper. That's a purpose for it right there."

Charles sighed.

"You are being a brat." He stated simply, closing his eyes in order to center himself.

"Yes." I confirmed unrepentantly. Charles opened his eyes and smiled at me sleepily. Erik raised an eyebrow behind his book-shield.

_**But you're MY brat. Aren't you, Francis?**_ Charles projected to me. It wasn't a question. I stared at him. I hadn't been expecting that.

"She told you." I concluded flatly.

"Not exactly." He replied aloud. I looked from him to Erik.

"Then how?" I asked, forcing my attention away from Erik.

_**When I awoke underwater, I heard your name. It is a family name. Afterwards, it wasn't too difficult figuring it out.**_ I considered his explanation.

"So, she told you, albeit accidentally. You must have picked up part of her projection when she was calling for me."

"Are you still going to keep hiding from me?" Charles asked aloud, once again catching Erik's open attention. My projection shrugged and, with a ripple of blue light, transformed from Charles' double into my own appearance.

"Ta da." I sang dispassionately and flopped down onto the bed to lie on my back, across Dad's legs. "Here I am, not that it matters. You'll all see me when we arrive."

Charles was studying me intently for a while before he spoke.

"What age are you?"

"Nineteen." I answered easily, then noticed his expression. "If this is because I'm short... In my defense so're you, so it's your own fault."

"You're just quite a bit younger than your cousin."

"I am... I had siblings in the other time, if that helps you at all."

"Right." Charles acknowledged, adding as an afterthought: "I am not short."

Erik smirked. I pointed at him.

"See: confirmation, relax, you're taller than I am. Better for the heart anyway. We'll live longer, or so I've heard."

"That reminds me." Charles began, his expression becoming concerned. "The Shadow King is coming after you. He tried to force your location out of me. I did my best to resist but he saw a few of my memories of you."

Both Erik and I sat up straighter upon hearing this.

"He attacked you in order to find Onslaught?" Erik demanded, at the same exact moment that I said. "He possessed you in order to get to me?" Charles winced, looking back and forth between us again.

"You two really should stop doing that."

I rolled my eyes flopping back down on my back. Erik looked at him questioningly.

"You both keep speaking in unison. It's very disorienting when one of you happens to reside within my mind."

"You'll get used to it." I informed him.

"If Farouk truly is after Onslaught..." Erik began.

"Oh, this'll be good." I commented bitterly, talking over him. "Watch as he throws me to the wolves."

"Nobody is throwing you to the wolves!" Dad snapped, effectively cutting Erik off, perhaps triggered by the kernel of truth in my accusation.

"Well, we'll never know now, will we?" I pointed out, deciding to humor him for now, but only just. I eyed Erik coldly.

"Francis." Dad warned. I looked innocently back at him. "You should get some sleep. You'll need to make your way here as swiftly as possible. Amahl Farouk is less likely to attack two telepaths together."

I nodded my agreement, eyeing Erik coolly.

"Goodnight." Charles prompted.

"Whatever." I replied and receded. Charles nestled himself comfortably under his blankets.

"I don't trust him." Erik informed him seriously.

"I understand, my friend." Charles responded, sounding incredibly relaxed.

"I somehow doubt that." Erik disagreed, watching as Charles had a gloriously languid stretch and turned to blink sleepily up at him.

"You were watching me sleep all night, weren't you?"

"I was reading." Erik replied, knowing Charles would see right through his deception.

"Mmm. Of course you were." Charles mumbled, sounding amused. He curled up and closed his eyes. "Don't worry. –not so off-putting when you do it. I know you won't kill me in my sleep... Not...on purpose." He trailed off, falling asleep. Erik frowned at the strange admission. He didn't think he would ever hurt Charles. _Didn't he know that?_ That qualifier troubled him. _What the hell had that meant?_

* * *

><p>Breakfast the next morning went fairly well. There seemed to be a silent agreement between all of the younger mutants that everyone act as though the events of the previous evening had never occurred. The others were more than happy to go along with this. Everything seemed to be back to normal, barring the odd, apprehensive tinge to Erik's usual stoic silence and the looks that Raven kept shooting Charles over the breakfast table. Finally he decided he'd had enough and quickly excused himself, fleeing into the kitchen to deposit his dirty dishes in the sink. Lucy snatched them up immediately, cleaning them.<p>

"Thank you, Sir." She said, smiling. "Behind you, Sir." Charles turned back around to see Raven standing right behind him.

"We need to talk." She told him moving past him to add her own plate to the pile which was almost completely diminished by the time Charles answered.

"I thought you might say that."

"Your room?"

"Erik might drop in on us."

"My room it is."

* * *

><p>As soon as Charles had shut the door behind them, Raven started in on her interrogation.<p>

"Tell me why you're doing this. Good reasons. I'm sure you must have some. You do remember the Beach, right? Erik went nuts and tried to kill a ton of human soldiers. You got shot and paralyzed. Does any of this sound familiar to you?"

"It hasn't happened yet. We've agreed we are going to change it." Charles pointed out. "I am not avoiding _you_—"

"Charles! It's not the same! Yes, I made the worst mistake of my life. A horrible, stupid mistake, but that is not the same as...Magneto!"

"Raven, I can't blame either of you for what we saw, and neither should you." Charles told her gently, stepping closer. Raven shook her head and avoided his gaze. "He gave you something that you needed. I have been so caught up in trying to hide you away, to keep you safe. So you left with him. Why wouldn't you? He reminded you how beautiful and amazing you truly are while I just isolated you. You were right. I never meant... It's just harder to... You are amazing, Raven, and I never should have let you doubt that for a second." Raven reverted back to her natural blue form, her yellow eyes wide and watery. "You both have so much goodness in you. He just can't seem to see it."

Raven wiped away a tear and sniffed.

"I don't want to see you get hurt." She told him in a quiet voice, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I know, but I have to give him a chance." Charles urged, returning the hug_**. I need him. I need both of you.**_ He paused, taking a steadying breath. "We can keep him from becoming our enemy. We'll be alright. We have nothing to lose from the attempt."

"You'd better be."

"Oh." Charles brushed his temple looking back at the door. "It appears we have company."

Raven pulled away and quickly wiped her face with her shirtsleeve, calling:

"It's open."

Marie popped her head in, not looking the slightest bit surprised to see Raven's scaly blue appearance.

"Hi. Uh, sorry if I'm interruptin' somethin' private."

"No, it's fine. No problem." Raven assured her. "What's happening?"

"Oh, well M- Erik wants us to run laps with him. He sent me to get you so we can start training."

Raven raised an eyebrow, noticing her slip. Charles looked amused.

"You were hoping to avoid running laps and want an ally."

"That too." Marie confirmed with a shrug. "How am I doin'?" Charles shook his head.

"Sorry. I'll see you downstairs." Marie made a little disappointed sound and went to her room to change.

"She almost called him Magneto." Raven observed.

"Yes. She and her cousin have somehow come back to us from the future." Raven eyed her brother critically for a moment.

"Uh-huh." She said then perked up as a thought struck her. "That's where Onslaught got those memories he showed you!

"Indeed."

"So _he's_ Francis." Charles looked at her questioningly. "You muttered his name while you were falling asleep. It makes marginally more sense than you reciting your own middle name."

"Ah." Charles acknowledged.

"It's a weird coincidence though." Raven noted before smiling at him mischievously. "You should probably watch that, by the way. Erik might hear something you don't want him to while he's creepily watching you sleep... or better yet you could make him stop lurking."

"Raven."

"Oh, Erik..." She mocked in her brother's voice. Charles turned scarlet.

"Stop that."

"Erik I need you."

"Be quiet."  
>"And then he hears you. 'cause you know: the lurking." Raven continued in her own voice. Charles pouted. They looked at each other in a silent competition. Charles lost.<p>

"I'm going to change." He said poutily and left. Raven smirked.

* * *

><p>Five laps in and everyone but Erik and Charles were beginning to feel rather winded. Darwin was just coming up beside Marie when she tripped and fell forward skidding on her front on the gravel path.<p>

"Ah, Damnit!" She cursed as the fall jarred her injured arm.

"Ooh, here, I got you!" Darwin said rushing over to help her up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Marie assured him just a bit too quickly.

"Are you sure? That looked like a nasty fall."

"I'm okay." Marie insisted, tensing as she noticed Erik coming back down the path to check on them. "Really it's no big deal. I just tripped." She tugged at the hem of her sweatshirt nervously. Erik narrowed his eyes and poked at the small of her back probingly. She looked away avoiding eye contact as he retrieved the dagger she'd had hidden under her sweatshirt. She failed to suppress a shudder.

"It's cold." She explained with affected innocence. Darwin raised his eyebrows at her. Erik just inspected the dagger with a neutral expression.

"Interesting, I can't sense it at all." He observed.

"It's ceramic." Marie supplied controlling her breathing.

"I see. Why were you hiding a ceramic dagger on your person during training?" Erik asked sounding only mildly curious. Darwin was looking back and forth between them like a spectator at a sporting event.

"It's for protection." Marie supplied truthfully, meeting his gaze. He nodded.

"That's why you're hiding it?" Darwin broke in, sounding skeptical. Erik and Marie both glanced at him, briefly, before returning to their attention to each other.

"Somethin' wrong with that?" Marie challenged. Erik smiled slightly, offering her knife back to her, handle first.

"Nothing at all." He assured her, resuming his run. "But there is no need to conceal it." He called back over his shoulder. Marie slipped her knife back into its sheath with a soft click.

"Come on." She prompted. "We only have a few more laps left." _**And I have to burn off some of this adrenaline.**_

"Okay..." Darwin responded as they started to run. "You two are very strange people."

* * *

><p>After they were finished with their run, Raven jogged up to walk beside Marie.<p>

"Hey, Rogue."

"Um, hey." Marie returned dubiously. "Listen, if this is about the thing with the knife earlier..."

"What knife?" Alex questioned from a few feet behind them.

"What?" Raven asked, taken aback, then shook it off. "No. I was going to ask you about Onslaught. Charles told me he was your cousin..." She put a hand on Marie's shoulder, leaning closer. "Is there something else we need to discuss?"

"No. My cousin, right." Marie was quick to dissuade her. "You're wonderin' why I didn't mention that he was the one contactin' the Professor."

"Or maybe even mention that Francis was a telepath." Marie looked away, watching Erik and Charles argue over whether or not Charles should go and rest for a while and let Erik handle the training in his absence. "I'm sure you had a good reason. I just wondered."

"I told you when I met you. Francis is the one who knows the most about what we're dealin' with. I figured that if he hadn't told ya'll who he was, I should at least, wait and see why not."

Raven nodded.

"That makes sense."

"How much did he tell you?" Marie asked tentatively, watching the other woman out of the corner of her eye.

"I know who Onslaught is and well..." Raven checked over her shoulder to see if Alex was listening. "Where you two came from?" Marie sighed. "Is there more?"

"There's always more." Marie told her mysteriously, with a sad smile. She could still remember when she had heard those same words from her mother, back when she had thought that she hated her, before the fire and the loss. It was still difficult for her to come to terms with being back in this alien time where the woman walking beside her was so young and innocent still, even a few years younger than herself, not even knowing who she was. She was glad to be here with them again and see the professor healthy and alive, even if it was strange to witness the way he clung to this Erik's side. This Erik wasn't the monster from her youth, not yet. He actually seemed to care about them all. Perhaps he could be different this time around. Although to be honest, she only held out hope for that for her cousin's sake. It was a wonderful gift to have them all back home with her once again, but she still couldn't help but find it bittersweet. _We can save them._ She reminded herself. _We will change the future._

* * *

><p><strong>WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK: XAVIER SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS; JULY 2007<strong>

I hovered stubbornly in the hall outside Dad's study. _Vater_ was in there talking with him. Or to put it more accurately, they were arguing…again. Apparently, having made no progress arguing his point over the phone, The Great Magneto had decided it best to come scare everyone shitless for a while, then precede to rant at Dad in his study for over an hour.

_**Francis, you shouldn't be hearing this. Why don't you go find someone to play with? **_Dad projected to me insistently.

_**I want to know what all this fuss is about. Why are you two so upset?**_

_**My dear boy, this is not something for a child of your age to worry about.**_

I sent my irritation over the link in response. He ignored it.

"Hey, Francis!" Marie called to me, jogging towards me down the hall to my right. "There you are. Listen, there's someone I want you to meet, okay?"

I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously.

"How convenient."

"What?" Marie asked. She shrugged. "Never mind. Come on." She held out her hand to me and I reluctantly accepted it, knowing how much touch meant to her after her treatment, considering the nature of her mutation. I let her lead me into the library. There was a strong, slender, auburn haired woman seated on the window-seat against the opposite wall. She was talking quietly with Ororo but she looked over at us and smiled warmly when we entered, her grey-green eyes sparkling.

"Well hello." She greeted kindly. "You must be Francis. You've got the Professor's eyes."

"Yes." I confirmed, studying her features. "And you look like Vater. You're my sister."

My older sister chuckled and nodded.

"You're a sharp kid. I am you're sister. Wanda Maximoff." She explained offering me her hand to shake. I accepted it, still not bothering with a facial expression. "My twin Pietro and I thought we should come and meet our new baby brother while we had the opportunity. He should be here in the next day or two." I continued scrutinizing her expressionlessly. Marie sighed and gently nudged me forward. Wanda just smiled at me patiently.

"Go on. You two have a lot to talk about." Marie coaxed. "Ororo and I are gonna go get lunch started, give you a chance to catch up."

_**Don't go too far. I might just join you.**_ I informed her telepathically as I sat down on the window-seat beside Wanda.

_**Be nice. She likes you. Just give her a chance. Please, Cuz?**_

I looked up at Wanda. She was waiting patiently for me to decide my next move.

"I've heard the others talk about you. They said that you could see the future."

"Well, in a way, I suppose that's close to the truth… but I don't see the future, exactly." She replied thoughtfully.

"Then what, exactly, do you do?"

"I see the different possibilities, and I can estimate the likelihood of certain events based on a small amount of information. I've gotten pretty good at it over the years, but I'm still no oracle. I certainly never saw _you_ coming." She finished with a playful wink. I nodded.

"So that must be why your thoughts are so difficult to navigate." I concluded. Her eyes widened slightly, but I could tell she was only humoring me. I wondered how much she did that. Not wanting others to be put off by her knowing their actions before they themselves did.

"Trying to sneak a peek, huh?"

"You're my sister. I should know you." I explained easily. "You don't need to do that, you know. We share a genetic telepathic link. I know you know what I'm going to do. You know I know what you're thinking… at least the basic gist of it. There's no reason to act as though we don't."

"Alright, Fluke, fair enough." Wanda agreed, and then looked at me curiously. "This link of ours…"

"It's weaker than those I share with Dad or _Vater_, but I can sense you and Pietro both accurately within a radius of approximately fifty miles." I answered before she could voice the question. "Through this link I have learned that you and our brother are both warriors. You are active agents in the guerrilla war that our parents have been trying to shield me from, and Pietro will take at least three more days to come here due to the conflict he is currently involved in exactly thirty five miles west of us involving two Sentinels and three mercenaries-become-mutant-hunters." I paused. "Correction: Two mercenaries. One just killed another." Wanda stared at me with her eyebrows raised for a moment.

"Fifty miles, you say."

"Approximately."

"Good to know. I'll have to remember that." I raised an eyebrow at her, reminding her of my Dad. I felt a wave of amusement from her. "I'll tell you when you're older." She added, answering my unspoken question.

_**Maybe you were right about her.**_ I admitted to Marie.

_**I am right. Maybe that means you won't feel the need to follow me around so much anymore.**_ She responded hopefully.

_**Don't get carried away.**_ I teased. _**No one could come between us, my dear.**_

_**Don't be creepy. Why don't you try some family bonding for a while? It'll be good for you.**_

* * *

><p>It was the next day that it happened. I was playing a game of chess with Wanda in the living room when Marie stumbled and fell to the floor, not far from where I was sitting. Her breathing was becoming ragged, as if she was in quite a lot of pain. Mystique gasped and took a step forward. The other students were murmuring amongst themselves tensely. I knelt down beside Rogue as Wanda surveyed the situation, her mind becoming a rush of data that I couldn't make any sense of. Just before my hand touched Marie's forehead, Wanda's arms wrapped around me, pulling me back against her chest in a protective embrace. I frowned in annoyance, brushing a few strands of long auburn hair out of my face.<p>

"What? Why did…" I trailed off as I saw the strange blue-grey veins that were appearing on my cousin's exposed skin. Mystique reached out tentatively toward her still form on the floor, but Marie's eyes snapped open and she scrambled away from her.

"No! Don't touch me!" She cried out, panicked. "Stay back!"

"Anna…" Mystique whispered. Marie shook her head, a tear rolling down her pale cheek.

"It's not safe." She muttered. "Not anymore." Bobby and Beast were already silently ushering students out of the room.

Wanda leaned forward to tell me quietly:

"Come on, Fluke. We need to go now." I hesitated. "She needs some time."

'Some time' turned out to be a long time. After the traumatic re-emergence of her mutant-ability, Marie locked herself away in her bedroom. She refused to let anyone in to see her at all, except Logan when he would come in to bring her food. Mystique would sometimes sit outside her door and talk to her. I would still hold telepathic conversations with her, but she always felt very tired and sad. In a way, that was the beginning of the end.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this. This kept getting more and more complicated the more I wrote it, with more characters demanding attention on every revision. Especially Francis, but hey, it's the thirteenth chapter and he's thirteen so it had to include him right. I'm probably cheesy for thinking that, aren't I? Also, I am planning to have his arrival at the mansion in the next chapter. So it's justified. Whatever. Anyway, thanks for reading. Special thanks to EvilChick13 for reviewing. Please guys, I would love to hear from you!


	14. Them's the Breaks

**Chapter 14: Them's the Breaks**

"How long-" I began to ask, only to be cut off by the sound of Logan's claws extending. "It's been a while since I last asked." He growled pointedly. "Fine. Be that way. It's just a bit boring isn't it? I mean, there's nothing here, really, only this long, boring road. Before there were at least a small number of people around to distract from the monotony, but now it's just endless driving." Logan retracted his claws and tried his best to ignore me. "I mean, I'm just making conversation. A task which you tend to make rather difficult. You just sit there all angrily, smoking your cigars, growling and saying unfriendly things like—"

"Shut it." Logan interjected irritably. I sighed.

"Case in point."

There was a long silence while I tried to find some other way to entertain myself. Everyone at the mansion had already gone to bed, and when I tried contacting Dad, he'd projected simply: _**No.**_ And gone straight back to sleep. I tried contacting Marie. She ranted at me for a half an hour about how men just don't get certain things, and how I get those certain things even less, and was generally terrifying until I finally managed to talk my way out of hearing anything more on the subject…that night.

"So…" I said suddenly. Logan rolled his eyes. "What are you planning to do after we reach the mansion?"

* * *

><p>Marie awoke at three o'clock in the morning, hearing someone creeping carefully through the hallway outside her bedroom door. They were being quiet, but her time in the perilous warzone of the future had made her hyper-aware of such things, especially when she was alone. She grasped the handle of the dagger that she had tucked under her pillow, but who ever it was kept walking. A minute later she heard the telltale creak that placed them halfway down the staircase heading toward the main library. She relaxed again and tried to get back to sleep, but after a prolonged stint of tossing and turning restlessly, she gave up and followed them downstairs.<p>

* * *

><p>Alex wandered downstairs, seeing the light shining out onto the landing from the half-open door to the library. He wondered briefly who else would be up this late (or rather, early) before figuring it was probably Erik or Charles. He pushed the door the rest of the way open and entered. It was Erik, sitting with characteristically rigid posture on the window seat, reading… Charles' thesis on human genetics. Alex filed that little scrap of information away for later. Erik looked up at him closing the tome, marking his place with a finger.<p>

"Alex what are you doing out of bed at this hour?" He inquired sternly. Alex shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep."

"I imagine a few laps around the mansion would tire you out sufficiently." Erik threatened, reopening his book. Alex scoffed.

"Look, I get it. You want me to go back to bed, but I did just spend over a year locked up in solitary. You aren't going to bully me back into my room."

Erik looked up from his reading material, considering the teen with an odd look in his eyes before another arrival drew both their attention to the doorway. Marie looked wearily from Erik to Alex.

"Alex, why are you still up?" She asked.

"Wh-But-" Alex stuttered defensively. "I am not a friggin' child, okay? I'm eighteen! Why are _you _awake?" Marie blinked up at him, looking entirely unimpressed.

"You woke me up." She answered blandly, walking past him to sit on the other end of the window seat from Erik.

"Oh. Oops. Sorry Rogue." Alex muttered apologetically. Marie dismissed it with a wave, looking out at the moonlit grounds.

"You look tired." Erik noted, returning to his reading.

"Thanks for noticin'" Marie replied sarcastically.

"Perhaps you should return to bed." He suggested, turning a page. Marie sent him a withering look, tucking her hands in the pockets of the dark green robe she was wearing over her borrowed pajamas.

"Just so you know, I have a knife and I'm not afraid to use it." She deadpanned. Erik smiled. Alex decided this was an excellent time to go search the kitchen for a snack.

"I like you, Rogue." Erik remarked, once again pulling his attention away from his reading. Marie smiled politely, glancing over at the door that Alex had just disappeared through. "I believe we are much more alike than any of the others here." Her smile faltered. Oh _God, I hope not._

"What makes you say that?" She asked aloud, touching the handle of the ceramic dagger she had concealed in the pocket of her robe.

"Are you planning on using that knife, or is it just for your peace of mind?" Erik inquired evenly, as if asking her favorite color. Marie swallowed.

"You knew about that?"

"Of course. I'm still not certain I understand why you always seem so guarded and so…" He glanced briefly at the pocket holding her knife. "Armed. What happened?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" Marie responded tightly, then paused, considering he options. After all, this could turn out to be an opportunity to push events in their favor. As hesitant as she was to bond with a young Magneto… She took a deep, calming breath and explained. "Listen, things were pretty screwed up back were I come from. There were a lot of very bad people comin' after me and my cousin." She paused, still struggling with herself over whether or not she was really going to go through with this. "One of them was this… monster. He kidnapped me when I was seventeen. I don't know how he knew so much about my mutation but…" She trailed off as her resolve faltered once again. _This is insane. It's risky enough telling him anything at all. Hell! It's risky even trusting him not to just turn on me! No Marie, that's not fair. _She looked up at Erik's face. His silver eyes were watching her intently as he waited patiently for her to re-gather herself. This wasn't Magneto. She knew from his transferred memories that Magneto had once been a very different person. He'd had the potential to be a good man. This was the man before her. She had to remember that. Perhaps this time they might prevent him from fading into the darkness. "He wanted to use me as his weapon against the humans… I tried to fight him, but he was a lot stronger and more powerful than me. He grabbed my face! He didn't even have the decency to—" She jumped, stopping short, hearing a sudden clatter from Alex over in the kitchen.

"He's only knocked over a stack of pots." Erik assured her, sounding unimpressed by the boy's behavior. Marie nodded, calming herself down.

"I got away from him in the end—obviously, but I can still feel him in my head. With my ability, everyone I touch- they stay with me. They fade after a while, but no matter where I go or what I do, he's always in here, at the back of my mind." Marie shrugged, looking away again. "It won't happen again."

"And the man who did this, where is he?"

"Couldn't tell you." Marie answered truthfully. "Who knows, maybe someday you'll find out. I kinda hope not."

"He should have suffered for what he did to you." Erik concluded coldly. Marie's eyebrows shot up as she was hit by the surrealism of the moment.

"He wanted me to become a weapon. Why should I give him that?" She pointed out eventually, surprised by her own words. They heard Alex coming back their way. Marie stretched and stood up. "I definitely need some coffee. Excuse me."

* * *

><p>Later that morning, when Charles entered the kitchen, he was surprised to find Erik and Marie sitting together at the breakfast table with Alex slumped over the tabletop asleep in the seat next to Marie.<p>

"Maybe we should help him out." Marie was saying quietly. "He seems exhausted."

"I told him to go back to bed." Erik replied uncaringly, continuing to read his newspaper. "Good morning, Charles."

"Good… Morning." Charles responded, watching Marie poke Alex in the back a few times, attempting to wake him. She gently shook him by the shoulder while Erik neatly folded his newspaper and set it on the corner of the table, using his mutation to bring the carafe of coffee to him.

Charles took his seat at the other end of the table. Lucy came in and set a cup of steaming hot Assam tea in front of him, eyeing Alex disapprovingly.

"He's really out." Marie observed, giving up.

"Mmm. Is he?" Raven asked as she wandered in. She picked up Erik's newspaper as she passed, walking around the table to claim her usual seat beside Charles, and casually smacked the dozing teenager over the back of the head with the newspaper.

"Ah!" Alex exclaimed sitting up. Raven smirked evilly. He glared at her rubbing the back of his head.

"Good morning." She sang too cheerfully.

"I hate you." He grumbled, ruining it with a wide yawn. "Coffee?"

"Here." Marie said, passing the carafe of freshly brewed coffee to him. The others all trickled in gradually as breakfast went on, in varying states of alertness.

"Wait." Raven finally said, looking around the table. "Where's Hank?" Charles stilled briefly, his eyes going unfocused before he answered.

"He's in the lab. He's gotten caught up in one of his projects again."

"I'll go get him." Sean offered, and left only to come right back in shortly after.

"Um… Banshee, are you baked again?" Darwin questioned cynically. "You were just leaving to go get Hank."

"No. I'm not high. I've been high less than half the times that you asked me that." Sean corrected defensively. Darwin, Alex and Raven all wore identical disbelieving expressions. Charles closed his eyes, wishing he hadn't just heard him say that. It was too early in the morning for him to handle this. Moira noticed, turning to address Sean instead.

"You _do_ know that smoking is going to damage your lungs." She pointed out diplomatically.

"Uh-huh." Sean dismissed. "Listen, I came back here to tell you I just saw a truck driving up."

"Ah. That will be Logan and Francis." Charles concluded, getting up. "Excuse me." He briskly left the dining room to meet us outside, followed closely by Marie.

I was just hopping down from the passenger's side when they reached us. I came around the truck and was immediately enveloped in a big, characteristically careful, bear-hug from Marie. I returned it awkwardly, feeling slightly embarrassed by the way she tended to treat me as if I was made of glass.

"Good to see you too, Mammina." I assured her patting her shoulder, definitely not blushing. She lies. I don't blush. She pulled back to look me over sternly. "Marie?"

"Don't you even _think_ about disappearin' on me like that ever again. You got that?" She demanded.

"Si principessa."

"Francis!"

"I understand. I won't."

"That's better." Marie said, releasing me and walking over to where Charles and Logan were still talking. I began to follow her but stopped, seeing the others coming outside to meet us. I grinned. Marie shot me a warning look. She opened her mouth, undoubtedly to utter some ultimatum pertaining to my behavior, but Raven spoke first.

"So, you're Onslaught. You're not exactly what I expected." She told me, looking me over. I was better than she'd expected as far as I could tell. I did a little mock bow.

"Yes, that's me, or you can call me Francis. Whatever you prefer." I told her as the others joined us, with the still human-looking Hank trailing behind. He waved at me shyly. "Yes, hello. It is so good to see you all again… and Erik." Dad winced. Marie's jaw tightened. Erik narrowed his eyes at me. Logan, on the other hand, appeared to be enjoying himself. "I'm glad to see you all alive and well. Also, Erik."

"Jesus H. Christ." Marie swore quietly in annoyance. I studied her face, gauging how irritated she was with me. Death glare.

"Well I'll just head inside then, shall I?" I announced and fled to the dining room.

* * *

><p>"Why are you hanging around me?" Raven asked as I entered the weight room. Dad had gone down to the bunker to help Alex train, leaving me to fend for myself.<p>

"Oh, you know, old habits…" I replied, moving to spot her. "That, and I get the feeling Marie is preparing to give me a right scolding which I'm not looking forward to at all."

"Huh. Maybe you should've considered that before you chose to antagonize Erik." Raven pointed out, unsympathetically. "That, and your self-preservation, if you have any."

"Maybe." I conceded. "Why are you still blonde?" Raven paused, then resumed her movement, looking more solemn.

"Old habits."

"I see."

"You should apologize."

"I don't really do that."

"Then it'll be a new experience." She returned. I helped her put the weight back in it's proper place and she got up, looking at me thoughtfully. "So you knew me in the future?"

"Yes."

"What was I like?" She asked, tentatively. I considered her for a moment.

"You had many regrets." I answered truthfully. "I think you were trying to redeem yourself."

There was a silent pause while she digested my words and reflected on how it fit with her reaction to what Charles had shown her.

"You were also very naked." I added expressionlessly, leaving before she could react.

"Naked?" I heard her echo as I walked away.

* * *

><p>Just before dinner, and after my less-than-comfortable run in with Marie, I found Erik in his room reading… Dad's thesis. Huh.<p>

"What do you want?" Erik said by way of greeting.

"I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry for antagonizing you earlier." I explained. Erik considered me for a beat, then replied simply:

"No you're not." Going back to his reading.

"No I'm not. I'll probably even do it again." I agreed unrepentantly. "But for some unknown reason, my cousin thinks that I should try to get along with you, so this is me trying."

"You're failing. Is that all?"

"Terrific. Don't bother to try and murder me in my sleep, by the way. I can sense you coming." And with that I left him to his reading.

* * *

><p>WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK: XAVIER SCHOOL FOR TALENTED YOUNGSTERS; SEPTEMBER, 2007<p>

It's strange how things change. Some transitions are dated and labeled, like birthdays and graduations. Others are marked by events, and some of them just sneak up on you. The second most important transition in my life was a tricky one. In a way, it was marked by an event, but in truth it was most definitely one that snuck up and took me completely by surprise.

"It was a pleasant, peaceful, Friday afternoon. For once, I wasn't the bane of anyone's existence. In fact, a few of the other students had been rather enthusiastic about my first time ever experiencing snow firsthand. A couple of them had even sided with me in the ensuing snowball fight.

Both Marie and Wanda were off fighting. Marie was alongside the other X-men. Wanda was helping Vater and his Brotherhood on some mission of theirs. All that I could glean from the rapidly moving thrum of my older brother's thoughts was that it had something to do with one of Sinister's many military funded projects. I hadn't bothered to delve any deeper than that. Pietro's speedy mind had the potential to make me get nauseous if I attempted to focus on one train of thought for too long. I looked back over at the bench that he and Mystique were sitting at chatting together and sipping their tea. Discussing… Never mind, boring adult stuff. They were focused elsewhere. Good.

I had developed an odd habit of practicing balancing on more and more precarious situations. The other stone bench, quite a few meters away from theirs would prove to be a good challenge in this icy weather. I knew I'd get in trouble if they caught me but…

I crept over and climbed up, balancing on the back of the bench. It took me a few tries to manage it but I did it. The next challenge: cross the back without slipping. Careful. One. Two. Thr—Blast! No! Don't fall. Ha! Saved it! Four. Yes! I did it!

"Francis." I heard Aunt Mystique call to me warningly. "Get off the bench now before you hurt yourself."

"Yes'm." I called back obediently, carefully beginning to climb back down. I didn't care. I was finished anyway. I stilled halfway down as my vision vanished for a couple of terrifying seconds. I straightened, looking around dazedly. Everything sounded as if I were underwater. I could hear Pietro's voice, but not what he was saying. Everything flickered. There was a dark-red and white blur to my right, then I was lying in my brother's arms. Did I fall? I must've… When did that… I woke up in medical, hearing the steady beeping of a heart monitor to my left. Vater was sitting at my bedside holding my hand in his. I could sense Wanda and Pietro two floors above us, talking with Dad.

"Vati?" I asked, and was both surprised and irritated at how feeble my voice sounded. I frowned and tried to sit up.

"No. Lie back, Bärchen. You are still very ill." He told me, gently pushing me back down onto my back.

"I'm sick?"

"You passed out two days ago, with a fever of one hundred and three and scared everyone half to death in the process." Vater informed me seriously. Not that scared. I thought, considering that he was still wearing his bloody helmet. If he really was so worried about me, he wouldn't be blocking me out.

"I couldn't tell." I observed aloud. "A vital design flaw." Vater scowled disapprovingly.

"Don't talk about yourself in such a way. You're not a machine."

"No, I'm an experimental bio-weapon." I agreed. "That's why you and your Brotherhood went and stole my file." Vater stared down at me with an expression I couldn't recognize. So I continued, pointing up at the ceiling. "Wanda is telling Dad and Pietro my birth date: November 5th 1993." Vater sighed. Apparently that hadn't been the reason for his strange expression. I eyed the equipment that was being used to monitor my vitals; beginning to feel uncomfortable, I noticed that I still had a slight fever.

"Francis. You are not a weapon nor are you an experiment. You are my child." Vater corrected adamantly. I looked back at him, wondering why he thought I couldn't be both. I decided to let it go.

"Hello." I greeted a millisecond earlier than a normal person would as Wanda wheeled Dad's chair into the room. Pietro was further down the hall behind them, finishing a quick exchange with Bobby. Oh, great both parents at once. This was sure to be awkward. Maybe I should just pass out again.

When I woke up again I was back in my own bed. That meant that I must have improved, I supposed. There was someone asleep on my right arm, and someone else curled up on the window-seat. The one on the window-seat was very blue, so… Yes, definitely Aunt Mystique. Maybe I really _had_ scared people. I tugged at my pinned arm. Marie snorted loudly—Ah, ammunition—and sat up, looking at me, now completely alert.

"You're awake!" She whispered happily. I nodded.

"When did you return?" I whispered back. She checked her watch, squinting to see it in the dim light.

"About… Three hours ago. I wanted to check in on you before I went to bed." She explained sheepishly. I skimmed her surface thoughts.

"It's three o'clock in the morning." I concluded. She shrugged. "Vater came to see me." I told her emotionlessly. She straightened in her seat and blinked at me, uncertain of how to react.

"Oh?"

"He didn't even take off his helmet." I added darkly. Her expression softened and she sighed, giving my hand a little comforting squeeze.

"I'm sorry. You know just because you're Vater's a—" She stopped herself, looking at my face uncomfortably.

"You were going to say he was a jackass. I'm not offended." I informed her smoothly. She smiled slightly.

"My point is, just 'cause he acts that way with you, it doesn't mean there's anythin' wrong with you. You got a lot of people around here that care about you."

"If there's nothing wrong with me, then why must everyone keep assuring me as well as themselves of that fact?" I asked curiously. Marie's brow furrowed. I pointed to my temple. "I may not be like my father, but I have been picking up other people's projections for a while now. You were the only one… What makes them think I'm so wrong?"

* * *

><p>"Charles, we need to talk." Erik said from the doorway to the living room.<p>

Sean, who was sitting on the sofa and was therefore in between the two older mutants looked back and forth between them for a moment before sighing and standing up.

"Fine." He breathed in defeat and trudged out of the room. Erik entered the room soundlessly, watching him leave, then shut the doors behind him with a gesture. Suddenly, Charles felt apprehensive. He'd been feeling more and more anxious lately, especially around Erik.

"If this is about Francis." Charles began, knowing it probably had nothing to do with me at all. "I know that he is difficult to get along with, but I believe he has his reasons for it."

"I don't trust him."

"I know that… Actually, now that I think about it, the two of you are really very similar." Charles realized. Erik was clearly less than thrilled by the idea. "He thinks that I'm naïve. So do you. You both put up fronts to keep others at bay. You both—"

"Charles."

"You each consider the other to be a threat." Charles finished. Oh, dear God, he had more. Thank you, Erik, for stopping him.

"This isn't about Francis."

"Oh? What is it you _did_ want to talk about then?"

"You."

"Oh. Again?"

"You've been behaving strangely for a while now." Erik explained, moving closer. Charles began to subtly back away. "You seem to be becoming increasingly agitated."

"Do I really?" Charles hedged, his usual mask of polite calm snapping very firmly into place. He took a step back. Erik took a step forward.

"Yes. You do." Erik returned, staring stonily down at Charles' façade. There was no longer any room for him to back away, he was already leaning back against the wall now. Charles swallowed.

"Oh, well, I am sorry to worry you, my friend." He told him pleasantly and tried to slip past Erik and out the doors. Erik stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"You're a terrible liar, my friend." Erik informed him, looking him straight in the eye. "Tell me what's troubling you." Charles swallowed again, his mask slipping. They stared at each other silently for one long moment. Charles' gaze wandered down to Erik's lips. It seemed as if he might kiss him, then he blinked and looked away.

"I can't." He whispered sadly. "I'm sorry." He pushed past Erik and fled the room. Erik stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened, before snapping out of it and following after Charles. Charles almost made it up the staircase to his room but Moira stopped him on her way back down.

"Oh good, Charles." She looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "And there's Erik. I was looking for you two. I just got a call from Gibson. Those two Agents we sent to check out Farouk's grave never checked in."

Erik looked both unimpressed and annoyed by this news. Charles just looked trapped.

"I know what you're going to say, Erik. I thought of that too. That's why we sent another to check it out." Moira preemted.

"I suppose he's missing too." I guessed as Raven and I wandered out of the kitchen to join them. Erik looked at me suspiciously. Raven rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand showing him our cookies.

"No. He's dead." Moira responded shortly. That got Charles out of his mood.

"Killed?" He inquired, looking at her intently.

"Coroners report states that he shot himself. Five times." She added, enjoying the drama of the delivery just a tad. Charles' eyes widened.

"The Shadow King." Raven concluded.

"Undoubtedly." I agreed, taking a bite of my cookie.

"We should go check it out as soon as possible." Charles concluded.

"No." Moira and Erik disagreed in unison, then paused for a moment to exchange appraising glances.

"Charles. You can't go. He's targeting you, remember?" Raven said, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

"I know. That makes it easier to draw him out. We will need to face him eventually anyway." Charles pointed out.

"Mmm. A fair point, but it won't work." I told him. Erik glared at me. I'm still not clear on why. "He doesn't seem to like facing other telepaths head on. The actual culprit that's taking out your Agents is either going to be a somnambulist, or another mutant he's got on his payroll."

"Somnambulist?" Moira echoed curiously

"Telepath slang." Dad and I replied in unison. Then Dad blinked a few times and shook his head, disoriented by the brief flare in our link.

"It's what we call someone who's being forcibly controlled." I continued. "I imagine the Shadow King has quite a few. From what I've seen, he seems to literally inhabit his victims."

"You're not going." Erik ordered firmly. Dad flashed him an irritated expression. I made a whip's sound. Raven smacked me upside the head.

"My proposal is still sound. We will simply draw out his mercenary instead." Charles insisted, skillfully ignoring me. "He'll have his people on the lookout for me and Francis." Erik looked over at me thoughtfully. "No, Francis isn't going." Charles said shortly and headed upstairs to his room. "I am."

"I'll go talk to him." Raven said and hurried after him. She pushed her way into Charles' room. "Charles, just hear me out. I have an idea."

* * *

><p>It had taken about an hour to convince Moira to let him come along. Erik had gone with them, much to her dissatisfaction. They just had time to check in with the police chief before checking into their hotel. Nothing strange had happened, other than the missing and dead Agents. So perhaps the Shadow King's mercenary had already moved on. Erik doubted it. Moira was trying to be optimistic. Erik looked over at Charles from where he and Moira were standing next to the reception desk, talking to an incredibly vapid hotel employee that had spoken with one of the missing agents, envying the younger man's freedom. Charles seemed to have made the perfect escape, tactfully offering to deal with their luggage just before the witness had come to the desk. Erik watched Charles bend down to pick up his and Erik's bags. He looked out the window at something out of Erik's line of sight, picking the bags up with his right hand as he checked his watch before transferring Erik's bag to his left. Erik narrowed his eyes, taking note of it but deciding not to comment on it yet. Charles looked up at Erik and flashed him a little uncomfortable smile before disappearing upstairs, clearly having caught him looking.<p>

"Well, that was awkward." He said to himself as he let himself into their hotel room, tossing their bags onto the closest bed and casually kicking the door shut behind him. He stretched and popped his neck, trying to work out the kinks, crossing the room to look out the window. A second later, he stiffened lifting his hands as he felt the cold metal of a pistol being pressed to the back of his head.

"How disappointing." Remarked a harsh male voice in a strong Australian accent. He tsked mockingly, adding. "Poor Charles Xavier, guess you're not much of a challenge after all."

* * *

><p>.<p>

A/N: So, yeah I know, another cliff hanger. I had to the chapter is already really long and I'm on a time limit. Excuses, excuses. I hope you can forgive me, and that you've enjoyed this anyway, even my sad atempt at a romantic not-kiss scene. I imagine that at worst you laughed, like my Beta did, so that's fine. Thank you for reading this, and special thanks to EvilChick13 and smile, for reviewing. I live on reviews, figuratively, don't worry I eat too. Huh, I'm not funny. Oh well, I need to get back to typing.


	15. What Fresh Hell

**Chapter 15: What Fresh Hell…**

The mercenary tsked mockingly, as he held his pistol to his target's head. "Poor Charles Xavier, guess you're not much of a challenge after all." The apparently disappointing victim began to reach up towards his temple but froze at the sound of the hammer being pulled back.

"Now, now, Poppet. We'll have none of that." The mercenary warned, sounding amused. "Oh yes, you lot are nothing without your little tricks."

The door behind them burst open and Moira charged in, gun drawn.

"Drop it! Now!" She ordered. The mercenary chuckled, yanking Charles around and holding him out in front of him by his throat.

"I don't think so. How about you drop it and I won't blow your mate's brains out all over this fine, patterned, wallpaper."

"Erik?" Moira asked tensely. Erik reached out with his ability, frowning with effort but the other man's gun wouldn't budge. The air around it seemed to flicker for a moment and the mercenary smirked. Erik shook his head.

"Damn!" Moira cursed, carefully putting her gun on the ground.

"Slowly now." The mercenary ordered, watching their movements closely. She wordlessly obeyed, staring hatefully up at him the entire time.

"You okay Charles?" She inquired.

"Ac—" The reply was cut off by a choking sound. Charles grabbed at the hand holding his throat as the mercenary tightened his grip.

"No talking." He snapped. If looks could kill, Erik's would have probably incinerated him. "Alright, kick it over." Moira did so. The arms clawing at the mercenary's hand suddenly relaxed and the corner of Charles' mouth curled upward in a very un-Charles-like smirk. His eyes turned bright yellow. He grabbed the mercenary's hand, crushing the fragile bones with a series of sickening, cracking pops. The attacker cried out in pain stumbling backward as a cascade of azure scales returned Raven to her true form.

"You scaly naked slag!" The mercenary shouted, trying to shoot her, but she quickly somersaulted away, scooping up Moira's gun as she went and tossing it back to her. Erik pulled the desk around to shield the two of them as Moira took cover behind the doorframe.

"So, where _is_ Charles?" He inquired, pulling his hunting knife out of his boot. Raven checked Charles' watch.

"He should be out of the trunk by now." She replied raising her voice to be heard over the gunfire. "You didn't seem surprised when I shifted." Erik nodded, waiting for an opening. Raven let out a startled shriek and scooted closer to him behind the desk as the mercenary let off a pulse of electrical charge.

"Son of a-" Moira exclaimed, taking cover. She popped back out again to return fire as soon as possible.

"Great! He's Zeus." Raven quipped trying to cover her fear. "And here we are taking cover behind a metal desk."

"If you'd like to take your chances without my help…" Erik responded defensively, before peeking over the edge of the desk and quickly ducking another blast of deadly charge.

"No, no! This is fine." Raven hastily assured him. "So, how did you know?"

"What?" Erik inquired distractedly, hurling his knife at the enemy. There was a wet 'thwump' and a shriek from the other side of the desk. Erik smiled.

"Nice throw." Moira observed peeking around the edge of the doorframe once again to admire his handiwork. "Shit!" She quickly ducked back behind it as the ridiculously persistent bastard returned fire. "I _hate_ this guy!"

Erik mimed a tugging motion. There was a pained gurgle from their opponent as the knife was called back to stick obediently to the edge of the metal table before an energy field could be formed to disrupt his magnetism. Raven popped up and retrieved the knife, handing it back to Erik just as the mercenary recovered and opened fire once again.

"I'm out of bullets." Moira reported bitterly. "It's your call, Erik." Erik readied to throw his hunting knife. He knew he couldn't afford to miss. This had to be a kill shot. Raven shrieked and yanked him forward as the next, much stronger, pulse of energy lit up the desk they'd been using as their cover. Maniacal laughter broke the silence.

"I'll take you all down you—" The mercenary was cut off abruptly. The flow of current ceased at the same time.

"Charles!" Moira exclaimed, relieved. Charles walked past her into the room, holding a hand to his temple. The mercenary growled and squirmed, struggling to resist him, disturbingly well. Charles frowned further, his breath uneven.

"Sleep!" He ordered roughly and the mercenary finally surrendered and passed out. Charles shook his head declining Moira's offer of support as he turned to look over at Raven and Erik.

"Raven?" He questioned worriedly. "Are you alright? Are you—"

"I'm okay." She assured him, adding. "What took you so long?" Before she jumped up and nearly tackled him in a relieved hug.

"Sorry I—Ah! Oh, for the love of G-" He exclaimed awkwardly, turning beet-red. "Raven! P-put some clothes on!" Raven pulled away looking unconvinced and not at all likely to do any such thing in the near future.

"Here's your watch." She told him smoothly, taking his watch off and handing it back to him. She walked over and sat down on the windowsill out of spite.

"How long is this going to hold?" Moira asked, crouching down beside the unconscious criminal to put pressure on the knife-wound in his side. Charles cleared his throat, regaining his composure.

"He should be out for at least another half an hour." He informed her, carefully avoiding looking in the direction of his stubbornly naked sibling. "I can put him under again when he wakes if necessary, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"That's fine. I should call some people in to collect him." Moira said, her eyes flicking over to Erik and quickly away. Charles followed her gaze, clenching his jaw when he noticed Erik eyeing Raven appreciatively. Charles crossed his arms over his chest and retreated into himself, knowing he couldn't really do anything until Moira had made a few calls.

"Raven, could you come over here and hold pressure on this wound for me, please." Moira prompted, noticing the sudden change in the room's atmosphere.

"Yeah. Sure." Raven agreed, taking Moira's place beside the mercenary. She shifted into her clothed, blond guise, having noticed Erik watching her. Erik turned to look back at Charles just in time to see him swiftly slipping out of the room.

* * *

><p>Charles lingered outside in the hall for a while, until the cleaning lady took pity on him and let him into the empty room next door. As soon as Moira returned, her gun reloaded, carrying a sturdy set of handcuffs and a medkit, Charles bolted. They didn't require his assistance anymore tonight. A team would arrive within the hour to help them deal with their captive. Moira would keep him sedated until then.<p>

The fact was, Charles didn't think he could deal with anyone at the moment. The close call earlier had drained him and the stress had pushed him too far for his mask to remain intact. He went outside, picked a direction at random, and he walked, shivering in the cool night air. In his haste, he'd forgotten his jacket in the vacant hotel room. It didn't matter. He couldn't go back.

A slight breeze blew his hair into his face and he brushed it away, surprised to feel moisture on his cheek. A tear. For some reason, that was the last straw. All of the worry, the stress, the fear and the pain that he'd been struggling to contain for the past month finally burst through his carefully constructed defenses and he let out a muffled sob. More tears poured down his cheeks.

He hurried away from the human presences he sensed nearby, finding himself in an open square with a large stone fountain in the centre. He slumped down against the edge and let it all out, thankful that at least there was no one around to witness his misery.

By the time he had finally regained the energy and the will to pull himself to his feet, it was getting very late. He carefully wiped his face and composed himself as much as possible, trying not to look like he'd just been crying for the past fifteen minutes. He walked briskly up the steps to a more secluded platform, heading back toward the hotel. He only got halfway across the platform before he saw it: the first swirling tendrils of inky blackness, creeping around the corner of the office building to his right. As it flowed towards him, the strange black cloud that was the Shadow King seemed to be gaining speed. Charles' heart rate sped up. He heard Raven's mind calling out to him, but at that moment he was too transfixed to respond. _It was a trap. I'm isolated now. Stupid!_ Only a few meters away now. Charles' fight or flight instinct kicked in; he turned and bolted back towards the fountain, leaping over the planter in one bound and hurling himself into the water. Luckily for him, the fountain had been made by a truly pretentious bastard and was plenty deep enough for him to submerge himself. The Shadow King poured after him, whirling and spreading across the surface of the water, unable to penetrate it. Charles turned and watched as the impossibly black cloud gradually spread until it blocked out all of the moonlight above, leaving him no escape.

* * *

><p>Raven gritted her teeth, reminding herself that, no, she could not afford to punch that jackass agent behind her for being such a perv. Luckily, another agent, Agent Parker, came over and released her from the hell that was her debrief.<p>

"I think that about covers it. Don't you Jeff?" 'Jeff' nodded distractedly. "Alright then. Thank you Miss Xavier, we'll let you go get some rest now." Raven nodded and smiled politely, beginning her walk to Moira's room, when she caught sight of Charles' abandoned jacket lying on the mattress inside the unoccupied room next door. She went in and picked it up, her tired mind becoming more alert. She hadn't seen him since he'd fled the room after the ambush.

_**Charles?**_ She projected, questioningly. There was no reply. _**Charles? Where are you?**_ She stepped back out into the hall looking around.

"Moira." The agent in question turned to look over at her.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Charles?" Raven asked, worrying the collar of her brother's jacket absent-mindedly. Moira's brow furrowed and she shook her head. _Better go find him then. _Without another word Raven spun on her heel and headed for the elevator, hearing Moira call for one of the other agents to 'stay on her'. Raven didn't even acknowledge his existence until they reached the elevator.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, just calm down." Parker advised. "You know that thing doesn't actually speed up the more you hit it. So, why are we in a hurry?"

"Charles is missing. Maybe even since the attack." Raven informed him, staring at the indicator above the elevator doors.

"Charles… Wait, your brother Charles?"

"Yes. He knows that he's being targeted. He wouldn't just disappear like this." Raven explained, losing patience and jabbing the button again. "He isn't responding to my calls. It isn't like him."

"Maybe he just can't hear you?" Agent Parker suggested. Raven shot him a withering look. "Right. Telepath. That was stupid of me." He admitted as the elevator arrived.

"Look Agent Parker, you're welcome to follow me, If you can keep up." Raven declared. "Don't get in my way. I'm finding Charles." Agent Parker nodded in agreement.

"Understood."

They strode quickly through the lobby as soon as the doors opened, ignoring the scant few operatives that were still hanging around as Raven made a beeline for the doors.

"Raven?" Erik called. She tossed him Charles' jacket not bothering to say a word. She didn't need to. The three of them paused briefly in the parking lot.

"I'll take this side." Erik announced, going left. Raven and Agent Parker went right.

"So this Shadow King guy… What do we know about him?" Agent Parker inquired.

"He's a dangerous telepath, who might not be completely corporeal. He draws the sugar out of life forms he comes in contact with, and if you let him get too close, he can possess you." Parker stared at her. "Oh! And he hates water." She finished as they reached the lawn.

"That sounds bad. So how do we fight him?"

"Something to do with water I guess?" Raven replied doubtfully.

"You don't know." Parker concluded. Raven shrugged. "Great! You guys are supposed to be the experts on this stuff." Raven's eyes turned yellow as she tried to fight down a spike of fear.

"That's more Charles' thing." She admitted. Parker stopped abruptly, grabbing her arm.

"Hey, get a load of those sick plants over there." He pointed across the lawn at a path of dead plant life trailing from the far edge of the lawn and ending with a planter full of blackened flowers and shrubs.

"It looks like he was heading for the…" Raven trailed off, her breath catching in her throat as she saw the lone figure trapped under the strangely rippling surface of the water in the fountain.

"There's no breeze, so why is the water moving like that?" Agent Parker thought aloud. They were only a few feet away from the edge when a few dark tendrils of decay began to stretch out of the original marks, spreading toward them. Parker pushed Raven behind him taking a couple steps back.

"Um… Miss Xavier? If you've got some move that I don't know about, now would be the time!" He prompted, taking another couple of steps back as the black marks continued to spread. Raven hesitated, still staring at Charles' silhouette trapped in the base of the fountain. "It's looking pretty close!"

Raven screamed in frustration and ran back away from the creeping decay with Parker right beside her. They ran for the doors of the office building nearby. The doors were locked, of course. That's where Parker's gun came in handy. They slammed the door shut behind them, leaning back against it.

"He's trapped in the fountain." Raven exclaimed, just now realizing that she'd reverted back to her natural form. She sniffed and covered herself.

"Here." Parker offered, holding out his jacket.

"Thanks." Raven responded quietly, wiping away a tear as she accepted the offered garment. She shrugged on the jacket, then froze, seeing the leaves of the little potted sapling next to her begin to wither and die. She nudged Agent Parker's arm. "He's seeping in through the cracks."

* * *

><p>Charles stared up at the constantly shifting blackness above him. He'd been periodically scanning it with his telepathy, searching for a weakness. He had finally caught a glimpse past it. He'd sensed Raven and an unfamiliar agent nearby, sensed her frustration and sorrow as they had to leave him behind and their fear as they fled. Erik was moving closer, drawn by the sharp report of a gunshot. They were all in danger now. Raven and the agent with her were most certainly in peril. <em>It's my fault. They're here because of me. My mistake… I have to fix this.<em> He was running out of air._ Doesn't matter. Just get them to safety. Just focus. _He focused all of his will power, channeling all of his remaining strength into one final task. He focused on the Shadow King's signature and he PUSHED.

Raven and Parker slid down to the floor, their knees buckling as they were momentarily overwhelmed by the sudden rush of _Charles_ blasting through their minds. Outside, Erik collapsed on the lawn gasping.

The projection faded and Raven shook herself, looking around. The plants had stopped withering. She looked at the fountain. Her dazed mind registered that the surface of the water had finally stilled.

Erik was the first one to snap out of the spell, pushing himself up off the ground as the shock of realization hit. Yes, the Shadow King was gone. Yes, they were safe. More importantly, Charles' signature was now completely absent. Erik streaked across the lawn as Raven stumbled out the door.

"Charles?" He shouted, not slowing his pace.

"In the fountain!" Raven called back roughly. Erik leapt over the planter, splashing into the cold water and lifted Charles limp, motionless form out into the cool night air. He carried him over and gently lay him on the ground, leaning forward to check for any signs of life as Raven hurried over to them.

"He's not breathing." Erik reported, desolately.

"Oh no." Raven declared shaking her head in denial. "No! Don't you DARE!" She brought her fist down, striking Charles hard in the center of his chest. He jerked back to life, coughing and sputtering and gurgling up mouthfuls of water as he struggled to breathe. Raven and Erik both stared for a second, stunned by her success, then helped him roll onto his side. Erik gently brushed his hair out of his face while Raven fought to stop herself from hyperventilating.

"I'll um… I'm going to go find us a medic." Agent Parker announced and left. Raven took a deep breath, wiping her face.

"Oh, thank you." She breathed, then cleared her throat adding more sternly. "You have got to stop doing that!"

Charles coughed once more, gasping in more precious oxygen before wheezing: "Agreed." In response. Then as an after thought: "Never…do it…again."

* * *

><p>Charles awoke early the next morning, taking a moment to check on the others around him. Raven had finally retired to her bed and was currently fast asleep. Moira was down in the lobby talking with her boss over the phone. Erik was.. watching him sleep again.<em> Great. Am I drooling? No. Good.<em>Charles sensed a flare of fond amusement from Erik's mind.

"You're projecting, my friend." Erik informed him lightly.

"Oh." Charles concentrated. He couldn't seem to stop projecting. A mass of mental signatures and foreign thoughts gradually flowed unstoppably into his mind. _Of course! I overused my telepathy. It's destroyed all my barriers! _Charles closed his eyes, struggling to throw up as many barriers as he could afford. They all shattered again under the force of the mob of uninvited minds encroaching on them.

"Charles?" Erik questioned more tensely as Charles began to shake, grabbing his head. He got up and knelt down beside his bed. "Charles!"

Charles shook his head stiffly. He could barely understand anything over the din.

"Can't…" He choked out. "Too many." He was digging his fingernails into his scalp, hard enough to draw blood. Erik instinctively grabbed his hands to pull them away and was unintentionally drawn into the din. Charles retreated from his body before any damage could be done, crudely severing their link in the process. Erik gasped and dropped to the floor, passing out from the shock of it. Charles, now in his astral form looked over at his body on the bed before sitting on the floor beside Erik. Reminding himself that, at least this way, there would be a natural barrier between his and the other minds nearby. He watched Erik's unconscious form, still recovering from the pain of their severed connection. It had been the only way to shield Erik. He just hoped that he would forgive him for it. Charles sighed and began the difficult task of repairing the damage to his mental barriers. It would have to be finished before they had to leave. It was too dangerous to return to his body without them.

Five hours later Erik began to stir. It took him a moment to remember where he was or why he was on the floor. When he did, he jumped up immediately to check on Charles. Charles watched him guiltily for a moment before returning to his task. Erik patted Charles' cheek. There was no response. He wasn't in his body to feel it. After a couple more tries to rouse him, Erik gave up again, looking utterly miserable and sat down on the edge of his bed to resume his vigil. _Charles is breathing._ He reminded himself. _His heartbeat is even. He's just… _Erik growled, drawing Charles' attention once again. _He's… absent._ Erik hated this. Charles signature was barely there. He could only sense it when he touched him, and even then, it was feint at best. It reminded Erik far too much of that terrible moment in the fountain when they'd almost lost him. He didn't want to feel anything like it again. Ooh, there's a development! Erik just sat there waiting for four more hours until the first rays of sun began to peek into their room. Erik was just about to get up and go drag Raven out of bed to help him figure out what was wrong when Charles' eyes slowly blinked open. Erik was at his side in record time.

"Erik!" Charles exclaimed grabbing his friend's arms. "I'm fine. Just… calm your mind."

"What was that?" Erik demanded, quietly at least. There was no need to wake anyone up.

"My barriers were destroyed when I fought off the Shadow King." Charles explained. "I'm perfectly fine now, but when you were drawn into my mind accidentally, I had to sever the connection before I caused any damage. I had to… leave for a while until it was safe again." Erik opened his mouth to speak but Charles spoke again. "'Don't ever do it again'. I assure you, I don't plan on it." Erik raised his eyebrows looking both relieved and displeased. "Sorry. I haven't quite recovered fully yet. I know. I d… I will just stop talking now, shall I?"

"That would be best." Erik agreed, taking a seat on the mattress as Charles sat up.

"You should probably get some sleep." Charles suggested. Erik just looked at him. "Right. I'll be quiet."

There was a long pause in which Charles considered what he'd sensed during his overload and Erik went to look out the window, beginning to relax a little. A playful smile spread across Charles' face.

"You've been reading my thesis." He observed happily. Erik blinked in surprise and turned to look at him, looking caught. "Don't deny it. Why are you so sneaky about it anyway?" Erik actually blushed slightly. Charles' smile widened. "Interesting."

* * *

><p>.<p>

A/N: Okay, so I know, it's a crappy ending sorry, but hey! It's action packed! Anyways, I hope you liked it. Thank you all for reading. Special thanks to EvilChick13 and RandomUnderTheSun for reviewing. As always I crave reviews. I know that sounded weird... whatever...


	16. In Transition

**Chapter 16: In Transition**

I was woken up later than usual that morning, although, at least it was in the manner to which I was accustomed.

"Francis." Marie ordered, tossing some clothes onto my face. "Get up, Lazy."

"Mmf, nphf." I protested sleepily, muffled by the pile of clothing that I simply refused to move.

"No bargaining. It's already late enough." Marie replied unsympathetically. I let out a wordless moan of disagreement and turned away, allowing the clothes to fall onto the floor. "Don't push it, Cuz." She warned. I got the sense that she sort of wanted me to. Well, why disappoint her? I heard her clear her throat unnecessarily. "I warned you." She informed me before belting out. "Hey Erik!" My eyes snapped open, as Erik walked curiously over to see why she'd called for him.

"Bitch!" I exclaimed. She smirked at me victoriously.

"Don't call her that." Erik chastened disinterestedly and looked at Marie in silent question. She shrugged.

"He wouldn't get up." She explained. "I thought I'd try scarin' him awake." Erik nodded, secretly pleased at this newly discovered power that he had over me, and went back to his room two doors down. It was rightfully mine, but he didn't know that.

"Rogue." He said over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not an alarm clock."

" 'course not." Marie agreed. Erik disappeared back into his room.

"I see the others have returned." I remarked, climbing out of bed and gathering up my new clothes off the floor.

"Yeah, they just—Ugh, damnit." Marie protested, shielding her eyes irritably when she caught sight of my nakedness. "They just got here."

"You do realize that your mother walked around naked all the time, don't you?" I reminded her, pulling my trousers on.

"That's different. You decent yet?" She asked, spotting Moira coming down the hall in our direction. "Fuck it." Marie shut the door to save the Agent from getting an eyeful.

_**Why be self-conscious when I've got you to do it for me?**_ I projected to her as she leaned back against the door informing Moira that I was getting dressed.

_**So I guess you don't see any reason why one o' the others seein' your barcode'd be a problem, then.**_ Marie projected back. Apparently, Charles had sent Moira to come and fetch me.

_**A fair point.**_

_**Did you get that?**_

_**Yes. Now release me and I shall go see him. **_I confirmed, appraising my new clothes, curiously. Marie opened the door and gestured for me to walk with her.

"These are really rather nice. Whose are they?" I inquired. Marie shut the door behind me once I was through.

"They're the Professor's."

"Bullshit."

"A gift from Raven." She continued, as we descended, spotting the aforementioned blonde exiting the library. "Mornin'" Raven smiled and nodded.

""He hardly ever wore them." She informed us. "I think they looked too good for his tastes."

"I heard that!" Charles protested from within the library. Raven smirked.

"It's true!" She replied before continuing past us up the stairs.

"See ya later." Marie told me and left for the dining room, while I went into the library to see what Charles wanted.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I prompted, standing just inside the door.

"Yes. I wanted to discuss your training." Charles said, sitting on one end of the window seat and gesturing for me to join him. I didn't budge.

"I haven't been training." I told him stoically. "I've just been running laps."

"I know. I think it would be best if you started." Charles replied pleasantly. He'd noticed my sudden lack of expression, but was unsure of what to do about it.

"_You_ haven't." I pointed out. Charles sighed.

"That's different."

"No it isn't."

"Francis, please. Why must you be so difficult?"

"You're trying to behave like my father."

"I _am_ your father."

"You hardly even know me yet." I countered, not sure why I was beginning to feel upset. I barely noticed Erik's presence coming closer. "You don't even know what I'm capable of."

"Then perhaps you should tell us." Erik suggested from the doorway. I tensed and crossed the room to sit on the window seat next to Charles.

"Erik." Charles warned gently.

"My telepathy is secondary." I explained uncomfortably, avoiding looking in Erik's direction. "As you've seen, Charles, it is… underdeveloped."

"We can change that with practice." Charles assured me encouragingly, prompting me to continue.

"I already know how to control my primary mutation and frankly, it would be a waste of resources to muck about with it any more than is absolutely necessary." I concluded vaguely.

"You sound like Erik." Charles noted. Erik and I both glared at him, before the magnekinetic's piercing gaze returned to me.

"And what exactly is your primary mutation?" He inquired suspiciously.

"My nickname is Onslaught." I answered curtly. "I think that's warning enough."

"Francis!" Charles scolded. "There is no need for you to continue antagonizing Erik like that!"

"I'd consider that to be more of a challenge." Erik remarked casually.

"Oh, don't you start too." Charles pleaded, watching us stare each other down with amazingly similar icy expressions.

"Perhaps you should stop coddling him." Erik responded flatly. Wow, and they didn't even know they were both my parents yet. I must have some sort of evil gift. They proceeded to charge right into a heated argument about how best to continue training the children, mainly me.

_**Bloody hell! I've made a monster!**_ I projected to Marie. She quickly excused herself from the kitchen where she'd been chatting with Logan and Alex to come see what was happening.

_**What did you do? **_She demanded accusingly.

_**Nothing… intentional. They're arguing again… maybe not again. Oooh! And bring me some grapes.**_

_**Unbelievable!**_ She responded, neglecting to fetch my grapes.

Alex and Raven appeared with her in the doorway a moment later.

"What did you do?" Alex asked immediately.

"I resent that. I can't be held accountable for every little annoyance." I told him, at the same time that Erik argued that I should be held accountable for my actions. Raven raised her eyebrows at me.

"Did you notice that you and Erik kind of… spoke together." Alex inquired, looking a bit disturbed. I shuddered.

"I _hate_ that."

"It isn't spoiling the children to give them a little positive reinforcement!" Charles insisted.

"When have you not?" Erik retorted. "A little discipline wouldn't do him" naturally, he gestured toward me. "Any harm!" We all watched them silently, looking back and forth between them as though it was a tennis match.

"Heather Has Two Mommies." I quipped quietly, expecting them to be too distracted to catch it. They both turned to look at me.

"What?" Erik queried.

"It's a good book. You should read it… after it's published." I finished awkwardly. Erik stared at me for a moment before dismissing it as more of my usual strangeness and turning back to Charles, to notice him regarding me with an odd expression on his face.

"Listen, Erik." He said more calmly, turning back to the other man. "We are both very tired and on edge. There isn't anything wrong with either philosophy."

"That's your opinion." I muttered under my breath.

"Be quiet." Charles snapped. I held my hands up in surrender. "Now, if anyone needs me I'll be in the dining room having my morning tea." We were all silent for a while after he left.

"I knew you started it." Alex declared, breaking the silence.

"Bite me." I responded shortly and pushed past him out of the room, going outside to wander the grounds. Marie closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Mind if I ask what y'all were talkin' about when this started?"

"His training." Erik replied. Marie nodded curtly.

"Great." She remarked sarcastically. "I'd better go after him before he busts somethin'" She concluded following after me. Raven and Erik exchanged puzzled looks in response.

* * *

><p><strong>WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK: XAVIER SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS; JANUARY, 2009<strong>

I ran down the stairs at top speed, Nightcrawler appearing, then disappearing in dark blue and black puffs of smoke behind me. I knew that he was humoring me, but I didn't care. This was fun! I charged through the hall and sped through the dining room, snatching some toast off the table as I went.

"Goddamn Brat!" I heard Logan exclaim in my wake. Ah, so it'd been his toast. I chuckled, enjoying the stolen snack as I ran outside. Nightcrawler appeared in front of me in another puff of smoke. I coughed, finishing Logan's toast.

"You will make yourself choke if you keep doing that." He reminded me.

"And if I don't eat it on the run, Logan will choke me." I pointed out, then turned and ran back inside. "Are we still playing or not?" He teleported onto the wall to my right.

"You shouldn't steal, _liebchen_." He reprimanded.

"Yes, Uncle Wagner."

"Especially from him."

"Yes, Uncle Wagner."

"Now, you're It." He added, teleporting over to me to tag me, and then quickly away again.

"Blast!" I cursed and chased after him. When I rounded the next corner, however, I skidded to a halt in front of Logan. "Blast!" I cursed again and spun on my heel fleeing upstairs.

"Get back here Kid!" Logan called, coming after me. We rushed past Aunt Raven.

"Save me!" I requested.

" 'scuse me." Logan acknowledged. She rolled her eyes at us and continued on her way to the living room. I turned down the hall to my left only to see it was blocked by a crowd of older teens. Logan stopped just a few feet behind me, cutting off my escape.

"Murder is wrong!" I exclaimed, backing away. Ms. Frost looked at him questioningly over a few of her student's heads.

"Come on, Brat." Logan said gruffly, reaching for me. I unexpectedly transitioned, fully, for the first time, falling right through the floor. The resulting boom shoved those standing closest to me violently away. Logan, who was by far the closest, was thrown back into the wall with a nasty crunch.

I dropped through two floors and Uncle Wagner, landing hard enough to leave a dent in the round, metal conference table between Dad, Pietro, and Storm. Storm let out a little startled cry as she and Pietro jumped out of their chairs in surprise. Dad flinched. There was a brief, stunned silence while they all stared at me in shock and I struggled to get my breath back, wiping at my face. I had accidentally killed Logan. Dad moved forward and brushed my hair out of my face, looking me over.

"Well, you don't see that every day." Pietro observed, finally breaking the silence, as Storm leaned over me to help Dad check me for injuries. I sniffed and wiped my face again.

"I killed him." I lamented. Storm and Pietro's gazes snapped to my dad in shock.

"Logan will recover." He assured me gently. "It was an accident." The others relaxed, looking relieved, especially my brother, who was never too fond of Logan anyway.

"Um… I also think that I might've electrocuted Uncle Wagner on the way down." I confessed.

"Seriously?" Pietro asked incredulously. Dad's eyes went unfocused for a moment while he checked on Nightcrawler.

"He's alright." Dad reported.

"We need to get him to medical." Storm announced. "No, Honey. Don't try to get up. You might've broken your pelvis." She informed me. Pietro winced in sympathy. "And you've definitely fractured a couple ribs."

"Dr. McCoy is on his way with a stretcher." Dad informed us.

"I think I'm going to pass—" I reported, losing consciousness.

As it turned out, Logan did forgive me, figuring that a broken pelvis, shattered coccyx, and a couple of fractured ribs were more than enough retribution. Uncle Wagner was fine too, although he had trouble teleporting for the rest of the day. Regardless, it was quite a while before I attempted to transition again.

* * *

><p>Erik walked into the dining room to join Charles at the breakfast table, just as Logan was leaving.<p>

"I'm fine." Charles assured him. "Things were just a lot easier back at Oxford." He smiled weakly at Erik's incredulous expression. "No one knew about me there, and it was just Raven and I, most nights. It meant that there was much less for me to tune out."

"Did you?" Erik queried, taking the seat next to him.

"Not everything. It's impossible to ignore _everything_, but it was far easier to pretend that I didn't know, and when I heard something terrible…" Charles trailed off, staring into his tea. Erik watched him quietly for a while before finally speaking.

"What did you see?"

"Therein, lies the problem." Charles replied, meeting his eyes. He did look very tired. "I see the truth, all the time." He explained, running a hand through his hair. "I haven't got much of a choice. I meet this pretty girl in a bar. She is so perfect, but she doesn't see it. She's miserable. In fact, she's planning to get absolutely pissed here tonight and then she's going to go home and kill herself. I felt it as soon as I walked in. I hadn't even seen her yet, but there it is and _I know_. I go to class. The two students sitting behind me aren't exactly focused on the subject. The one to my left is too busy basking in post-coital bliss, and the other one is terrified of what his parents are going to do to him now it's gotten out that he fancies other gents. I didn't _want_ to know, maybe I'm even actively shielding today, but that was the bit that slipped through. People want me to keep out of their heads. They like to think it's that simple, so we let them. I'm not supposed to know any of it, so I try to block it out. I ignore what I pick up anyway, because it's none of my business. I know when to keep my mouth shut. I know _terrible_ things. Things I know that I can't tell anyone. This time it's different and for the first time in years, I am actually afraid."

"If you're in danger, Charles…" Erik began, but Charles was already shaking his head.

"Of course I'm in danger. That isn't important." Charles said impatiently. Erik strongly disagreed with that. He didn't even need to say anything to make that crystal clear. Charles went silent again, studying Erik's face, deep in thought.

"Charles?"

"Why did you stay?" Charles inquired abruptly, his eyes piercing intently into Erik's. It was obvious that the answer was of extreme importance.

"I thought that you said you already knew everything."

"You're deflecting." Charles observed, coming to some conclusion and going back to silently drinking his tea, his mask slipping back into place.

"I trusted you." Erik amended quickly. Charles kept drinking his tea. "I stayed because for some reason I was already certain I that could trust you."

"You thought that I was naïve."

"Yes."

"You knew that you could use me to get to Shaw." Charles stated, setting down his empty cup. Erik stared at him, speechless. "You probably still can." Charles admitted, rising from his seat. "But that's not because I'm naïve. I'll know that I'm losing, even before you do." He straightened his posture and walked out of the kitchen. Erik took a second to react but followed after him as soon as he snapped out of it.

"I'm not trying to trick you, Charles." He called, standing in the doorway, thankful that the children had all gone outside by now. Charles stopped walking but didn't turn around. "I don't want to use you. I might've considered it at first, but that was before I knew you. I don't ever want to hurt you." Charles looked back over his shoulder but hesitated. "If you don't believe me, then just see for yourself. You're my friend… I need you." Charles slowly turned to face him. He didn't reach up to touch his temple or even scan the surface of Erik's consciousness. He just watched him carefully for a couple of agonizing seconds before walking back over to Erik and hugging him. Erik wrapped his arms around him more slowly, feeling a little lost, but eventually relaxed into the embrace.

"I really am sorry." Charles told him, finishing in a near whisper. "I don't know if you'll ever forgive me."

"Forgive you for what?"

"You will see." Charles responded vaguely, then surprised Erik by leaning up to give him a kiss on the… cheek. "Maybe not what I did… but you'll find out." Erik tightened his grip on his friend's smaller frame not liking the feeling of foreboding the strange admission gave him.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N: **So... yeah. this is what happens when I try to will my way through a case of writer's block. It's a bit shorter than than the other chapters, and maybe a bit less exciting, but hey, I'm tryin'. I'm having some issues getting the time to type things up so if this seems rougher than usual, that's why. I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for reading this. Special thanks for this round go to Nile for reviewing. Please guys, review. I'd like to know how I'm doing with this.


	17. Erik the Red and The Great Magneto

**Chapter 17: Erik the Red and The Great Magneto**

It was yet another silent dinner. Sean was mad at Erik for shoving him off the top of the satellite dish that afternoon, even though it had helped him learn to use his sonic ability for flight. Alex and Logan were both stewing over some argument they'd had earlier during training… bloody alpha-males. Hank was once again absent, due to his fascination with some project of his, and Charles and I were being unwillingly subjected to Sean and Raven's hormone induced projections, as well as a few awkward, but easily overlooked thoughts from Moira as well. Finally I came to my wits end after a particularly obnoxious projection from Sean.

"Oh, come now! That is just wrong!" I snapped, throwing down my fork and prompting a harsh stage whisper from my cousin.

"Francis! Behave!"

"Besides," I added as an afterthought, "He's gay anyway." Dad face-palmed.

"Please shut up." Raven told me quietly.

"Who's gay?" Alex inquired cluelessly.

"Hey! Keep out of my head!" Sean objected loudly. Everyone looked at him. "Not me." He added hastily. I opened my mouth to respond, but Marie slapped a hand over my mouth.

"Not another word Mister." She ordered. I scowled and made an indistinct noise of protest. "I don't wanna hear it. Behave yourself." She released her hold over my face and went back to eating as if nothing had happened. I glowered down at my plate for a moment before sitting back and pushing it away.

"Francis…" Charles tried, in a calming tone. I crossed my arms.

"I'm finished."

"Just calm your mind." He persisted soothingly. I shook my head.

"Nope. It is far too loud. Good luck with that yourself, though, Professor." And with that, I left, ignoring the others' eyes on me. As soon as I was gone, they all turned to Charles expectantly.

"Problem?" He asked innocently.

"What did he mean by that?" Darwin questioned.

"I believe that he has been having some difficulty shielding his mind. It's nothing to worry about I'm sure."

"He's been hearing all our thoughts?" Sean asked uncomfortably.

"No. Of course not… I've been shielding you as much as I can." Charles explained matter-of-factly. "I'm just beginning to get a bit tired." Raven glared at him.  
>"I am perfectly fine, Raven. It was only for this afternoon." Raven didn't seem to buy it. "Can we please drop the subject?" Charles requested. There was a brief silence.<p>

"I was thinking… We should consider doing some basic training in hand to hand combat, just in case we have to face another mutant like Moss who can suppress your abilities." Erik nodded, exchanging a look with Charles.

"That sounds practical." Charles agreed, absently rubbing his forehead.

"I already know how to fight. So does Francis." Marie informed the others, taking a bite of her lasagna. Erik raised an eyebrow, looking her over appraisingly.

"How competent are you?" Moira queried interestedly. Marie shrugged.

"I can hold my own well enough. I don't think I'm good enough to teach anyone."

"Logan?" Charles prompted.

"No."

"You are more than capable. Moira can assist you." Charles insisted. Moira nodded in agreement. Logan then made the mistake of looking up and was met by matching puppy-dog expressions from Raven and Marie.

"Please, Logan?" Raven asked sweetly.

Needless to say, by the end of dinner he had folded. It was agreed that they would start with some sparring the following afternoon, just to see how capable everyone already was. The rest of dinner was spent with everyone talking amongst themselves, discussing training. Even Hank, who had finally come downstairs to eat joined in, but Charles just sat quietly eating until he was finished, then left just as silently once he was done.

* * *

><p>"Francis, did you need something?" Charles inquired politely when I knocked on the open door to his bedroom. I let myself in and shut it behind me.<p>

"You're upset. I can feel it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll try to block it for you." Charles apologized. I sighed.

"That's not what I meant." I replied. Charles fiddled with the cuff to his dressing-gown.

"I cannot keep doing this." Charles confessed tightly. "I cannot continue to lie to them like this."

"You aren't necessarily lying to anyone…" I pointed out, leaning back against the door and casually crossing my arms over my chest.

"Yes, I am, or at least I will be soon if I continue with this façade, and Raven… She deserves to know."

"That isn't your decision to make."

"It isn't yours either. You wanted to know what's troubling me. Now you know. I will leave Marie to handle her own secrets, but the rest…" Charles shook his head. "I will not lie."

"Then perhaps you should consider silence." I suggested, pushing away from the door. It may not be realistic but, to be honest, I don't think I wanted Erik to ever find out the truth. It was just so much simpler this way. Charles stayed silent for a moment, then turned to his bed.

"If you'll please excuse me, Francis, I am rather tired."

"Goodnight." I said turning to leave. I paused with my hand on the doorknob. "Just take a little more time to consider this?" Charles nodded without turning to face me.

"Goodnight." He replied more quietly and I left. He rubbed a hand over his face and blew out a heavy sigh, undoing his dressing-gown and draping it neatly over the bedpost. Then he froze, as his tired mind finally registered the familiar presence lingering out in the hall.

"Erik?" He called a tad breathlessly, standing very still.

"You really must be tired, Charles." Erik remarked as he came into the room. His tone was as light as ever, but Charles could sense the ice hidden beneath his friend's false calm.

"H-how much—" Charles broke off to clear his throat. "How much did you hear?"

"You told him that you were tired of lying to us." Erik said, walking up to him and eyeing the web of crisscrossing scars that covered the telepath's bare back and shoulders as he spoke. "What has he been making you say?"

"Nothing."

"Charles, I heard you. If he has threatened you—"

"No! He hasn't threatened me! He wouldn't." Charles cut in earnestly. "I am just tired of keeping all of these secrets. Some of this…" Charles gestured vaguely to his head. "I do not agree with some of the conclusions that he has made. I trust you." He explained, finally meeting Erik's eyes, only too look away guiltily. "At least, I think I do… Mostly." Erik's expression darkened.

"I've already told you. I have no intention of manipulating you." He affirmed tensely. "But from what I have seen, it seems clear to me that _he is_."

"I know how it looks." Charles replied, snatching his dressing gown up off the bed and putting it on with unnecessary aggression. "It's complicated."

"Then explain it." Erik snapped.

"And why, exactly, are you so interested?"

"Because he is a threat!" Erik shot back, the metal in the room vibrating as his temper flared. Charles closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair as he tried to calm himself.

"Erik?" He prompted soothingly and a moment later the fixtures around them stilled. "I assure you, my friend. Francis may be many things but he is no threat to me. Harming me… Well to put it simply, it wouldn't be in his best interests. The fact is, as much as I want to be able to tell you the truth. I do not think you would want to know."

"You told me that you were in danger." Erik reminded him. Charles nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking exhausted.

"I am, but not because of Francis. I'm sorry." He said, wincing slightly and pinching the bridge of his nose. " I cannot talk about this tonight. I need some time to think."

Erik put a hand on his shoulder and he leaned into the touch.

"You can trust me, my friend." Erik told him meaningfully.

"Mmhm." Charles hummed. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Erik gently slipped an arm around him and lay him down on the bed, pulling the blankets over him. Erik paused for another few seconds to consider his sleeping friend with concern before silently slipping out of the room.

* * *

><p>Erik tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. He was accustomed to his insomnia by now. He decided he would give this another minute, and then he was going to sneak down to the library to read for the rest of the night. He stopped moving as he rolled onto something smooth and solid. The sand was too hot against his bare skin. <em>Sand? <em>He opened his eyes and looked around. _Yes, sand._ He was lying on a beach, somewhere in the tropics by the looks of it, wearing nothing but the pair of boxers that he'd worn to bed. He picked up the object that he'd rolled onto. A shell. The bright sun was beating down on him mercilessly.

"No! Please! Erik! Please, stop!" He leapt to his feet at the sound of the desperate plea coming from farther down the beach. He knew that voice.

"Charles!" He called. There was no reply. Then a terrible scream of pure unadulterated agony tore through the air around him. Erik broke into a flat out run towards the source of the screams. It cut off abruptly just as he rounded a small cluster of palm trees to see Charles lying motionless on his back on the ground, still wearing the same dark-green pajamas that he'd been in when Erik last saw him.

"Charles?" Erik called again, dropping to his knees next to the unconscious man. He patted Charles' cheek, trying to wake him and his breath caught in his throat. He reached out and gently cupped the side of Charles' face. He was cold to the touch. Erik tilted his face towards him and the sunlight revealed his morbidly pale complexion. His lips were now a pale blue-grey. "No…" Erik shook his head in denial, pulling the limp, lifeless body close to his chest. "No! You can't…" His hand found a patch of wet, slickness at the small of Charles' back. When he pulled his hand away it was covered in deep red, blood. A shadow fell over them and he looked up to see a tall, caped figure wearing a deep-purple helmet standing over them.

"You!" He spat hatefully. "You killed him! You monster!"

"Yes." Said a strangely familiar, aged voice from under the helmet. The figure held out one gloved hand to reveal the bloody bullet lying in the palm of his hand. "We did." The bullet slowly rose into the air, beginning to spin faster and faster, until it looked more like a disk. _A coin._

* * *

><p>Erik jolted awake with a choked cry. The metal fixtures around him were warping and shaking as if caught in the middle of an earthquake. There was a loud crash out in the hall and a scream that undoubtedly came from Marie, then one of the drawers shot out of his dresser and impacted the wall by his door with an ominous snap.<p>

Erik closed his eyes and willed his magnekinesis back into a dormant state. Someone banged on his door.

"Enter." He ground out, hastily wiping a few stray tears from his face.

"Erik! Um, are you okay, man?" Sean asked shakily. Alex punched his arm. "Ow! Hey!"

"That was your dumbest question yet."

"I'm fine." Erik affirmed forcefully, returning to his usual stoic persona. "It was a nightmare."

"Shit." Alex commented thoughtfully as I joined them. Sean unwisely flicked his ear. "Ah, fuck! That's it! You're dead, dork!"

"Language please, and no rough housin'. Honestly! It's three in the fuckin' mornin'" Marie corrected, coming up behind me and grabbing my sleeve. " Now come on, show's over, back to bed."

"Mmm. Just so you're aware, Magneto." I grumbled tiredly. "Your nightmare tore out the chandelier here in the hall." Marie snapped her fingers and pointed to my room.

"To bed. Now." She ordered forcefully. I obeyed and the others began to disperse in my wake.

"You sure you're alright?" Darwin asked. Erik gave him a curt nod and he went back to his room to attempt to sleep. Erik sat there silently for a long while, looking down at his hands. Of course, there wasn't any blood on them, but the images from his dream still haunted him. It had felt far too real. He got up and got dressed, carefully sneaking through the hall to return to Charles' room.

* * *

><p>Charles murmured softly to himself in his sleep and rolled over as Erik carefully used his power to coax the door open without making any sounds. He crept over to check on Charles and instantly began to relax at the site of his friend, alive and well, peacefully asleep and safe. The younger mutant was sprawled out haphazardly over the bed, nearly lying horizontally across it. He'd apparently managed to shift himself into an extreme diagonal in his sleep, though it was unclear how he'd managed it with out waking himself up, and was now half tangled in his blankets and half on top of them. A small, affectionate smile threatened to spread across Erik's face at the strange sight. <em>…And he's drooling.<em>

"Hphf. Mmm not." Charles protested indistinctly into the mattress, then snorted awake and turned to squint up at him. "Vwah? Erik?" Erik smiled.

" 't's not fair. Don't usually snort!" Charles defended, yawning. He surveyed Erik carefully. "What's wrong?"

Erik's smile vanished as the images from his nightmare returned.

"Oh." Charles said, catching a glimpse of it through his telepathy. He sighed, then stretched out his arms to Erik. "Come here." Erik eyed him uncertainly. "Come on. I promise not to drool on you." Charles teased. Erik narrowed his eyes at him but accepted the hug nonetheless.

"It was too real." Erik said after a long silence.

"Yes…" Charles thought aloud. Erik sat up to look at him intently.

"You know something."

"It didn't sound like a dream." Charles told him honestly. "A pretty good impression of a dream perhaps…"

"But?"

"But it sounded like more of a projection." Charles concluded hesitantly. Erik's jaw clenched. Charles could feel the rage building in him even through his mental barriers. "Erik? Wait."

"Francis did this." Erik growled.

"Well… Yes, probably, but please don't do anything rash." Charles requested helplessly. Erik glared.

"He had no right! He threatened you!"

"Well yes—" Charles hurried to block the door as Erik made to storm out. "And no! No. If you'll wait and just—"

"Get out of my way."

"I don't think that's a very good idea."

"I am going to kill him."

"Right. Definitely _not_ moving." Charles concluded.

"If I promise to keep him alive will you move?"

"I can hear your thoughts Erik. Listen. Just wait! This is at least partially my fault!" Charles pleaded. Erik froze and stared at him. "He wasn't threatening me. He wouldn't do that. He's trying to scare you away."

"Charles…"

"He's my son."

* * *

><p>.<p>

A/N: Um yeah, so sorry this took so long. I was too busy to post at the usual time. Thank you all for your patience and as always, for reading this. I hope you liked it. Special thanks to LaughingAngelsGibberish, Greeniron, and Nile for reviewing.

As always, please review.


	18. Angel Dark, Demon Bright

**Chapter 18: Angel Dark, Demon Bright**

"He wasn't threatening me." Charles hastily assured Erik. "He wouldn't do that. He's trying to scare you away."

"Charles…"

"He's my son." There was a pregnant pause. Both men just stared at each other, until Erik finally broke the awkward silence.

"Who's his mother?" He asked unexpectedly.

"Who's… _Really_, Erik? That's your first question?" Charles responded incredulously. "I'm only twenty four!"

"Well, yes…" Erik conceded sheepishly. "That would seem to make it impossible for him to be your child."

"Oh, no. He is." Charles explained earnestly. "He and Marie are from the future."

"That sounds a little far-fetched." Erik pointed out, his earlier rage now completely forgotten.

"Yes, I suppose it does. Much like a team of young, super-powered mutants covertly training to stop an ageless, mutant madman from starting World War Three." Charles replied, matter-of-factly. Erik just studied his face, so he continued. "Destroying the world in the process." Still staring. "Also he's got super-powers as well… and a helmet that blocks telepathy and—Erik, why are you staring at me like that?"

"You made your point a few sentences back, but I was curious to see how long you would keep going." Erik admitted. Charles' forehead scrunched up in a harassed expression, which Erik found completely adorable.

"You think I'm adorable?" Charles inquired, catching the stray thought. Erik cleared his throat uncomfortably and changed the subject.

"So, Francis and Marie came to us from the future."

"Yes, to stop some 'Watershed Event' just as Marie told us when we found her." Charles confirmed. "Francis has shown me a few things. That's what happened to me that night, before we recruited Alex. I'm not sure how, but I believe that's what drew the Shadow King's interest back to me. He must have been alerted by Francis' sudden appearance."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Erik asked. Charles' jaw tightened and he swallowed, avoiding eye contact once again. "You didn't trust me."

"It isn't that simple." Charles said, hugging himself. "I— At first, I thought I was going mad. It was all too much, and then… I didn't want to believe him. I blocked it out. I didn't even realize that I was doing it! Then came our mission to Russia… I knew something terrible was about to happen, but it was locked away, and by the time I remembered…" Charles broke off, leaning back against the door, as though he wished it would swallow him up.

"That wasn't your responsibility." Erik told him.

"Yes. It was. I knew. He warned me so that I could do something about it. They needed my help so that we could change what happened and I blocked it out. That's what I am, Erik. I'm a telepath: we see and hear things that no one else does and we remember, and we _never_ forget." Charles insisted. "It's written into my genetic code. I have to _make_ myself forget things. It never happens naturally. I didn't want to believe it and my hesitation cost all of those agents their lives!" Charles stared at Erik unseeingly for a long moment. "That's not really why I didn't tell you. It just didn't help." He sniffed, smiling humorlessly. "I don't want to lie to you."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Erik questioned, frowning in concern as Charles slid down the door to sit on the floor.

"Because…" Charles began._** I love you. I don't want to lose you.**_ He projected unintentionally, continuing aloud. "…Because of what I saw." Erik stared at him, shocked into silence. Charles eyed him briefly before burying his face in his hands. "You don't want to know."

* * *

><p>The next morning I came downstairs for breakfast, but when I walked into the dining room, Erik was sitting alone at the table, waiting for me. Fuck. I took a careful step back and he looked up. His expression upon seeing me was less than encouraging. Our eyes met. I bolted. He chased after me.<p>

"_Shiesse_!" I cursed, as he grabbed the back of my collar and spun me around to face him. "Where's Dad?"  
>"Charles is still asleep upstairs." Erik informed me silkily. "Hmm, no metal."<p>

"I'm not an imbecile. I knew you'd come after me eventually."

"You've been meddling with my dreams." Erik accused. A lamp-cord and an assortment of paperclips and loose change flew over and pinned me to the wall under his command.

"…At your request." I told him hastily. He narrowed his eyes at me. I caught sight of the metal that was holding me to the wall twitching menacingly, out of the corner of my eye. "Ah… You should be mindful of that, actually. I am rather fragile."

"I'm sympathetic." Erik quipped sarcastically.

"I sensed you listening in, you _putz_." I explained. "You wanted to know what we were hiding, so I thought I'd give you a little taste. I take it you didn't enjoy it." The lamp cord tightened as Erik's emotions intensified, and I coughed.

"I would _never_—"

"You say that now Erik, but we both know that sooner or later it's going to come to a choice Charles or Shaw, and don't think for a second I'm naïve enough to think you won't choose your revenge over Charles."

"I would never betray Charles." Erik growled.

"Right! Charles might buy that, but I'm not so easy to convince." I spat, looking meaningfully down at the lamp-cord wrapped around my middle. "I've known you longer." Erik let his hand drop to his side and I fell to the floor as the metal holding me was released. I coughed and gasped for air.

"You're wrong about me."

"Well you've done a solid job of convincing me."

"Stay out of my head." Erik replied coolly.

"Get stuffed." I shot back, glaring up at him. My eyes began to glow as I considered getting some revenge. His brows narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you doing?" He asked, reaching out to all of the metal around us, just in case. I sensed someone coming towards us. Raven and Darwin.

"Hey, guys. Good…" Raven began as they reached the doorway, but trailed off as they saw us.

"I'd duck." I informed her casually, before transitioning. It gave Erik just enough warning to shield himself from the brunt of the blast. Raven screamed, ducking as I'd suggested, and Darwin used his armor to further shield the two of them. Erik was shoved back into the wall, hard enough to knock the wind out of him, but I had no doubt that he'd recover quickly. I dropped through the floor as expected and flipped over mid-fall to land in a crouch, inside the bunker. Alex ran over to me, understandably surprised by my sudden arrival.

"What the fuck! Francis?" He questioned, taken aback. I stood and straightened my jumper.

"Yes, it's just me. So… I guess this is why you weren't upstairs." I observed calmly. "Thanks for that."

"Um… Are you okay? What happened?" Alex queried, looking me over for injuries and seeing the red mark on the side of my neck from the lamp-cord.

"Erik and I had a small disagreement." I explained, walking briskly towards the door to lock it before the aforementioned mutant arrived. "He'll be fine." I had just started to turn the tumbler on the door when an invisible force began to push it back in the other direction. I weighed my options and backed away to stand at Alex's side, maybe _slightly_ behind him.

"You are so dead." He informed me as Erik swung the doors open.

"Francis!"

"If you'll recall, you did attack me first." I reminded him, taking a step back and charting my escape route.

"Upstairs. Now!" He ordered furiously.

"Actually, Alex, you might want to take a few steps to your right." I suggested, running to the far left of the doors.

"Wha—?" Alex began.

"Now!" Both Erik and I shouted. I transitioned a few feet from the wall and leapt through it, returning to my solid state to run up the stairs and away from the angry Nazi-hunter. He followed, hot on my tail. I pushed through the doorway and sped down the hall, only for Logan to grab me by the shoulders as I rounded the next corner. Charles was standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest, looking incredibly displeased.

"I can explain." I told him hastily as Erik slid to a halt beside us.

"You don't need to." Charles responded the same way that he always had when I was little. Erik frowned at him, thinking he might favor me. "Go upstairs, to your room. You are not to leave until I've come up to talk with you, understood?"

"But—"

"Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir." I replied darkly.

"Good. Go." Logan released me and I pushed past Charles, heading for my bedroom. Charles turned to look at Erik, then turned and walked away without a word. The metal nearby vibrated in response to Erik's discomfort.

"Don't do that." Logan said gruffly. Erik ignored him, following after Charles.

* * *

><p>"What the hell happened?" Marie was asking as Erik joined the others in the dining room.<p>

"Francis and Erik were fighting." Raven replied excitedly. "When Darwin and I got down here, Francis just told us to duck and then he kind of…"

"He transitioned?" Marie demanded, jumping up from her chair, her eyes going wide as her gaze snapped to Erik. "What the fuck were you doin' to him?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit!"

"Language." Charles chastened half-heartedly, his softer voice going unnoticed in the din.

"I scared him, but I did him no harm." Erik admitted.

"You mean you threatened him! I should've figured you'd pull somethin' like this!"

"He was poking around in my head. I can—"

"You stupid, self-righteous, motherf—"

"That is enough!" Charles shouted over Marie's oncoming tirade. "Marie, I understand your suspicion." Marie snorted in disbelief. "What happened this morning should not have occurred, but I assure you: both Erik and Francis were equally in the wrong this time." Marie opened her mouth to argue, but Charles kept talking. "He was using his telepathy to project a nightmare into Erik's mind while he was sleeping. Erik lost his temper when he realized what was being done to him. I should have realized what would happen when they saw each other again. I'm sorry I wasn't there to stop it."

"He really did that?" Marie asked quietly. The others around the table had all gone quiet when the argument began.

"Yes." Erik confirmed.

"I thought you said—" Logan began to ask, but Marie cut him off.

"Don't." She said quickly. Erik raised an eyebrow at her curiously. " 'scuse me." Marie got up and hurried out of the room. Charles was staring at Marie's now empty spot with a look of utter surprise on his face.

"Charles, are you okay?" Raven inquired, concerned. He dazedly shook his head still staring. "What's—" Charles stood abruptly and ran from the room. "…wrong." Raven finished, watching him disappear from sight.

"Has everyone gone completely crazy?" Alex remarked. Darwin shrugged. Erik left to follow Charles.

* * *

><p>"Charles!" Erik called jogging after the fleeing telepath. Charles made a beeline for the railing they'd stood at or would when Erik turned the satellite dish with his magnetism. "Charles, wait!" He finally stopped, leaning against it to stare at the giant metal structure, still struggling to process what he'd picked up unintentionally from Marie and Logan's minds. Erik came over to stand beside him.<p>

"I'm sorry for what I did to your son."

"You won't do it again." Charles replied distractedly, still looking shell-shocked.

"No I won't." Erik agreed, studying his friend with growing concern. "Charles? What's wrong with you?" Charles suddenly burst into loud, nervous laughter, laughing hard enough that tears began to fall down his flushed cheeks. "Charles!"

"_Our_ son." Charles corrected breathlessly. Erik frowned at him which for some reason triggered another bout of giggles.

"What? What are you talking about?" Erik queried, disturbed by Charles' strange behavior.

"_Our_ son. I saw it." Charles explained struggling to control himself. "You said 'your' son, but he belongs to both of us."

"You aren't making sense. We're both men." Erik pointed out. Charles started laughing again. "Stop that."

"Francis Eisenhart Xavier." Charles pronounced, looking over his shoulder as my projection appeared. Erik straightened. "It's just a projection." Charles assured him.

"Is this my punishment?" I inquired petulantly. "Because I don't see how it matches the crime."

"He has a right to know. Why does that bother you so much?" Charles asked, leaning back against the railing.

"If I'd wanted you both to know about me I would've told you." I pointed out. "You, I didn't mind as much, but he's hardly Father of the Year."

"Francis." Charles chastened. Erik was looking back and forth between us, still confused.

"It's true." I defended lightly. I sighed. "Fine. I was created in the year 1993 as an experimental bio- weapon by a classified branch of the British Military, using genetic samples from both Charles and yourself. You discovered my existence accidentally after the scientist responsible for creating me had you both captured in 2007 and the genetic-telepathic-link between us became active in such close proximity. After my escape, Charles raised me here at his school, with the help of a few of his X-Men, until you came and took me away to join your brotherhood at the age of sixteen. After all, a genetically engineered bioweapon isn't something one leaves in the hands of their enemy for long, even if that enemy is a friend. Any questions?" Erik just stared at me for a long, drawn out moment.

"Too many." He responded finally. I exchanged a look with Charles.

"I'm supposed to be waiting in my room right now." I stated decisively and receded, leaving them to handle the awkward silence in my absence.

"I wondered why he had my middle name as his first. I wouldn't have named him that." Charles announced eventually. Erik ran a hand through his hair.

"He called you my enemy." He noted bleakly.

"It was another lifetime." Charles reminded him. "It doesn't have to happen that way this time."

"It won't." Erik declared.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Thanks for reading this. Special thanks goes to Nile, LaughingAngelsGibberish, and EvilChick13 for reviewing. I hope you liked this. As always, I do hope you review.


	19. The Beginning of the End

**Chapter 19: The Beginning of the End**

Later that afternoon was the first round of non-mutation-related combat training. It was boring at first, especially since Charles wouldn't let me participate. My insensitivity to pain puts me at a higher risk of injuring myself and, predictably, both Charles and Marie were being over cautious where my safety was concerned.

Sean was absolute rubbish at fighting and Darwin was _marginally_ better. Alex wasn't too bad but he was very untrained and therefore predictable. Finally, it was Raven's turn. Now this should be interesting. She stepped forward and Logan hesitated. After all, she was essentially his boss' little sister. That and she was a bit smaller and a lot more feminine than most of his usual opponents. She moved into position and waited, watching him expectantly.

"Don't be fooled by her appearance." Charles advised. "She's quite formidable." Logan still looked doubtful but readied himself to begin sparring all the same.

"Begin." He commanded. She kicked out at him. He caught it. She shifted into her scaly, blue form and leaned back into a handstand, kicking him in the jaw with her other foot. He stumbled slightly and wiped a drop of blood away from the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry." Raven apologized as she circled him, her voice returned to its natural pseudo-chorus. She no longer felt quite as self conscious about her physical differences, though as Charles was relieved to notice, she was actually wearing sweats today.

"Focus on the fight." Logan replied, moving to punch her. She blocked it. He grabbed her arm and flipped her onto her back. She coughed and rolled onto her feet.

"Ow!"

"It's a fight." Logan pointed out. She tried to punch him. He caught it, using her momentum to throw her down again. She spun on her way down and kicked him right in the face.

"Better." Logan encouraged, helping her up. They sped their attacks after that, becoming more accustomed to each other's tactics. Punch, block, kick, kick, grab, slap, pinned. Punch, block, punch, kick, block, pinned again.

"That's enough for now. Your reflexes are good. You don't have any obvious tells, but you're relying too much on your strength. Remember not to lean into your attacks so much. It'll throw off your balance." Logan advised. Raven nodded and came over to reclaim her seat between myself and Charles. Erik stepped forward and Logan scowled.

"Is this truly a fair fight?" I asked, voicing his unspoken concern. "Logan is 20% metal, and he is—"

"Getting angry with you." Raven cautioned me quietly.

"A living magnet." I finished, despite her warnings. Erik continued to regard me coolly. Alex mouthed '20%' with an incredulous expression on his face. I turned to him. "I was not being 'ridiculously exact'. If I'd meant to do that, I would have said: Approximately 20% adamantium, give or take the trace amounts of iron currently circulating through his blood stream."

"I stand corrected." Alex replied with a smirk, thinking that I was a nerd.

"Children." Charles chastened, and we fell silent.

"Do you even need this?" Sean blurted out after Logan and Erik had moved to face each other. They both turned to frown at him.

"You wanna take my place?" Logan challenged. Sean paled and sat down. All the metal nearby vibrated in response to Erik's growing irritation. Logan narrowed his eyes at him. "Cut that out."

"Melt down in 5, 4-" I began, watching he two glaring at each other.

"Francis, please." Charles admonished, stepping forward. "Why don't I take your place for this round, Logan, it'll give you a chance to rest, and observe removed from the fight, yes?" Logan nodded after a short delay and went to take Charles' seat on the bench. "Good. Thank you."

"Charles?" Erik queried. He really didn't want to hurt Charles. Oh, this was going to be brilliant.

"I'm not made of glass, Erik." Charles assured him calmly. "And no, I do not plan on using my telepathy against him." He added, looking mildly irritated as he glanced in Moira's direction.

"Huh, they really have no faith in you." Raven observed lightly, trying not to seem as amused as we both felt. Charles ignored her.

"Whenever you're ready, Erik. Stop smirking, Francis." Charles admonished without looking. Erik finally dropped into a fighting stance.

"Begin." Logan declared. They both watched each other for a moment before Charles sighed and put in a token punch, which Erik blocked, moving to punch Charles in return. Charles swiftly dodged it and kicked Erik in the chest in nearly the very same movement. Erik had to take a step back to avoid it as he attempted to block the sudden attack. Charles just returned to his previous stance, waiting for Erik's next move. Erik punched. Charles blocked and kicked his heel into Erik's shin, forcing him to take another step back. Erik moved as though he was going to punch with his right, then when Charles went to block him he got him in the ribs with his left.

"Ooh!" Sean and Alex said, wincing in sympathy. Charles coughed quietly, but then just returned to his original, guarded stance watching Erik impassively.

"Are you alright, Charles?" Erik inquired, relaxing his guard slightly. Charles nodded once, continuing to silently watch his opponent's movements closely. He threw a punch. Erik blocked it, but when he attempted to return the favor, Charles caught his arm in a firm grip and slipped behind him, kicking his legs out from under him to pin him to the ground, all in one fluid motion.

"Whoa!" A few of the others exclaimed in surprise. Raven and I exchanged a pleased, conspiratorial look. Erik narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Charles helped him up.

"You've done this before." He accused.

"No, I haven't." Charles denied, truthfully.

"He's a lover, not a fighter." I agreed with a smirk. "You know that. _Me_, on the other hand…" Everyone except Charles, turned to look at me. Erik moved out of his recently resumed fighting stance and crossed his arms over his chest. "We're telepaths." I elaborated, gesturing to my temple. "Hasn't he explained this to you yet? Or were you just not listening?"

"Francis!" Charles responded, stepping out of his own stance.

"We see it all, and we _never_ forget." I reminded Erik, then looked at Charles. "If you get to fight Erik—"

"No." Charles and Erik both responded with finality.

"I'm not made of glass either." I muttered unhappily.

"It's almost time for lunch if anyone else cares." Marie pointed out, squeezing my shoulder in what I understood to be a more or less comforting gesture. People seem to be preoccupied with touch. I just play along, but I still wonder if I would understand it more if I could feel more than mild tactile sensations. Logan nodded.

"Alright then. Let's stop for some lunch." Charles agreed. Logan patted him on the back as he passed.

"Not bad, Professor, just try not to allow as many strikes next time." He advised, heading off to have a smoke. Charles nodded with a tight smile, probably sensing the same unnecessary spike of jealousy I had from Erik's consciousness. He waited for the rest of us to leave before he actually called him on it though.

"Must you be so territorial? He was only being fr—He was only giving me some advice." Charles said, beginning to head toward the mansion.

"Were you listening to my thoughts, Charles?"

"You were projecting." Charles informed him. "Quite strongly. That's entirely unnecessary anyway, he isn't my type." Erik stopped walking.

"What?"

"I'm not interested in Logan." Charles clarified, turning back to face Erik. "Besides, I'm beginning to suspect that he might fancy my sist—Erik, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Why would you assume that I was jealous… for that reason?" Erik inquired. Charles stilled, realizing his mistake. He bit his lip nervously.

"I wasn't wrong, was I?" He tried. Erik continued to look suspicious. Charles sighed, deciding to bite the bullet. "I've been through this before… at least, something similar, in my memories." He shrugged. "So… I know." He then hastily turned back to resume his walk toward the mansion. Erik paused, to consider that then followed after him.

"I told you in the other timeline?"

"In a matter of speaking."

"You read my mind."

"No. Of course I didn't. I promi—" Charles trailed off as the memories came back to him. He swallowed and continued. "I promised that I wouldn't." Erik studied his expression curiously. He wasn't a telepath, but he knew Charles well enough to sense when he was holding something back. "I kept my promise." Charles affirmed, suddenly avoiding eye contact. Erik just continued to watch him expectantly, with that look he has that makes it difficult to keep quiet.

"We were… We had a different sort of relationship in the alternate timeline." Charles admitted. "That's how I knew." Erik continued to stare. Charles continued to explain, still unwilling to look him in the eye. "The recruitment trip was the fork in the road, as it were. When I saw the future… our choices and the resulting consequences—"

"You never said anything." Erik observed, growing increasingly disturbed by Charles' obvious apprehension.

"No. I didn't." Charles confirmed, struggling to come up with an explanation that wouldn't just cause more damage. "I didn't… What happened…"

"What _did_ happen, Charles?" Erik asked flatly, growing impatient. Charles tensed at the sharpness in his tone.

"Forget it." He muttered and fled hastily taking refuge in his study and locking both doors behind him. Erik could easily unlock them and follow after him using his magnekinesis, but it was an obvious enough suggestion to keep Erik at bay for a while.

"What was that?" Marie inquired stepping out into the hall to look at Erik questioningly. Erik considered her for a moment.

"What happens at the end of this mission? You said that you both came back to change it." He questioned, watching her intently. Marie's eyes widened and she swallowed.

"I don't think that I'm the one you should be askin' about that." She replied uncomfortably. Erik continued to regard her expectantly. "Look. I don't know the specifics, but if the Professor doesn't want you to know… He must have his reasons."

"He does." I said, walking past them carrying a sandwich. "It's a nice day out. I think I'll eat out in the garden." Marie took the opportunity to slip away.

* * *

><p>I was almost finished eating by the time Erik joined me on the garden bench. It was the same one that I'd collapsed on back when I was a child. I eyed him, taking note of his lack of food.<p>

"I'm not sharing my lunch with you." I told him. He took a seat next to me.

"I'm not hungry."

"I know. You already have some idea of what happened in the other timeline, don't you?" I observed finishing my sandwich. "Otherwise you wouldn't have taken this long."

"I can't help stop it if I don't know what it is that I'm trying to prevent." Erik stated in frustration.

"That's not up to you." I pointed out. "He told you that he was in danger. He told you that we were here to stop a watershed event. Now, whether these two things are connected or not is up to interpretation. What isn't, is the fact that Dad clearly doesn't want you to know certain details. He's not bringing you into this. I can see the logic in that."

"You are attempting to change the course of history." Erik argued. "You will need allies in order to do so. This threat to Charles…"

"Allies need not know every detail. Besides, I wouldn't call you much of an ally. You joined this team for your own personal reasons." I countered. Erik scowled at me.

"And you didn't." He returned.

"Charles was right." I decided. "You don't really want to know."

"You're wrong."

"You're curious why the ever-so-trusting and naïve Charles Xavier would suddenly begin keeping secrets and distancing himself from you. You already know, or you could if you wanted to, but instead you're here hoping that I'll tell you something different." I said, standing and beginning to walk out of the garden. "He didn't tell you because _you are_ the threat, Magneto." I took Vater's old Nazi coin out of my pocket and tossed it to him, projecting a few fragments from Dad's memories into Erik's mind.

…"_Peace was never an option." Erik pronounced, leaning back in his chair while Charles studied him with a troubled expression…_

…_Erik held Shaw's helmet in his hands, feeling a surge of adrenaline._

"_You know, I agree with everything you just said, but unfortunately, you killed my mother." Erik told Shaw matter-of-factly…_

…"_It's not that I don't trust you Charles but, well…" He placed Shaw's helmet on his head, severing the link between them._

"_No! No! Erik! Please! Don't do this!"_

"_I'm going to count to three, and then I'm going to move the coin." Erik announced coldly, holding up the familiar Nazi coin._

"_No,no,no. Please, no! Erik!" Charles begged uselessly. Forced to watch through Shaw's eyes as the coin rose into the air. He couldn't retreat or else Shaw would unleash all of the reactor's energy that he absorbed, killing them all in the process. Even if he didn't he'd most certainly murder Erik. He would remain. He would have no choice but to experience all of it._

"_One…"_

"_No, no, no."_

"_Two…"_

_He'd fallen silent now his breathing coming in big panicked gasps._

"_Three."_

_Charles screamed in agony as he felt the metal being forced ever-so-slowly through his head. They were exactly the same as the agonized screams from Erik's nightmare..._

"Stop it!" Erik croaked, grabbing at his head. I immediately did so.

"You know by the time I came along, he didn't blame you for any of that… Except, you never took off that damned helmet! He never blamed you for the bullet, not really. The missiles were… troubling, but after everything you did he _still _forgave you!." I ranted. It had been bothering me for some time now. "Now Marie seems like _she_ wants to give you a chance, and Dad's trying to shield you from yourself. I don't know what it is that they see in you that makes them just- You really must be hiding some potential." I shrugged and turned to leave, only to turn back again. "Maybe if you'd ever taken that bloody thing off, I'd know what that was. I don't see it. I would like to."

* * *

><p>Erik stayed there on the bench for a long time, feeling utterly overwhelmed. Finally he stood, running a hand over his face and began to walk down the path to rejoin the rest of us. He stopped as he caught sight of a lone figure leaning against the railing a few meters ahead, staring at the big satellite dish. He hesitated, unsure whether he'd be still be welcome.<p>

"Charles?" He questioned uncertainly, his voice sounding a little rough.

"You moved this today." Charles stated somberly, still staring at the large metal structure. "We've missed it this time around."

"I can't move that." Erik admitted, coming to stand beside Charles.

"You said that before too." Charles remembered. "You thought that you needed 'the anger' to make your mutation work. I showed you that wasn't true. 'The point between rage and serenity'." Charles said with a sigh. "You thought that I was just making up excuses so that I wouldn't have to shoot at you." They fell back into silence.

"I spoke with Francis." Erik began, his voice cracking slightly. "He showed me..."

"You missed President Kennedy's address." Charles said, quickly changing the subject. "Shaw is headed for Cuba. He's going to try to use the ships there to spark a nuclear conflict. We're going to use pretty much the same plan as before—"

"Charles."

"..only with a few minor changes. Hank is still making some final adjustments to the jet, but—"

"Charles, stop." Erik requested. Charles fell silent and turned to look at him, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. Erik reached out to gently cup his cheek and a tear fell. "I'm not going to hurt you." Erik declared. Charles nodded stiffly. "I will never..." Erik affirmed, pulling Charles into a tight embrace. "Never." He repeated. Charles wanted so badly to believe him. It sounded like Erik was trying to convince himself as well.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Okay, so that got pretty moody at the end. Oh, well... Any way, just a heads up, I'm gonna be going down south to visit family next week. I can probably manage one more update before I go but I may not post for a while after that. If I can I will but, I make no promises. Thanks for reading this guys. Special thanks to LaughingAngelsGibberish for reviewing. Crap my session's almost up! Gotta go!


	20. Through A Glass Darkly

**Chapter 20: Through A Glass Darkly**

I sighed uncomfortably and looked out the large outer windows of the living room, once again distracted by the sickeningly soppy impressions drifting unintentionally to me over my parental link. Charles and Erik were moving the bloody satellite dish and, ugh, _bonding_. Darwin paused in moving his rook into position, looking up at me quizzically.

"Something wrong?" He asked, following my gaze to the window and, naturally, not seeing anything of interest.

"No. Not at the moment. Conflict I can stand, but this…" I leaned forward in my seat, ruffling my hair irritably. "Forget it. Excuse me. I'll be retiring to my room until supper." I announced, getting up to leave.

"But we're not finished with—" Darwin began. I leaned over and moved my bishop into position.

"There. Check in three moves." I reported, and left. Darwin inspected the board, stunned, and Raven came over to look.

"Oh. See what he did here?" She said, pointing to the board. Darwin batted her hand away and leaned back with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." He insisted. Alex smirked.

"I told you that it was a bad idea." He reminded Darwin happily. Darwin frowned in annoyance. At that point, I did my best to tune everyone out. I didn't want to think about where and when I was. For some reason, this upcoming mission was just now beginning to get to me, reminding me of old friends and enemies that I might never see again.

* * *

><p><strong>QUANTICO, VIRGINIA: NEW HOPE MUTANT REHABILITATION CENTER; JANUARY 2010<strong>

"Time." Pietro's voice insisted urgently over comms.

"Piss off." I warned softly. Pyro smirked at me from where he sat inside the vault. He twisted the last few wires together, miming an over-exaggerated impression of my uptight brother. I covered my laugh with a cough, shoving the last of the files into his duffel.

"What?" I responded to his unspoken accusation. "Mine's full."

"Twenty seconds until the security systems reactivate and Magneto comes into play, if you were wondering." Pietro snapped.

"We weren't." I responded irritably, glancing over at Pyro who was zipping up his bag.

"Any moment now." Peitro insisted.

"Quit your bitching." Pyro advised, jogging out of the vault. "The systems are set. We're out of here."

I walked after him in a more relaxed fashion, feeling certain that I could actually hear my siblings' twin sighs of relief over comms. "Come on, Mini-Mags, I think your brother might bust something if we don't get out of here in the next millisecond."

"I can hear you." Pietro returned stiffly. I heard Wanda chuckle.

"And I care." Pyro replied lightly as we reached the stairs. "We're on our way down. How are we on time?"

"You'll manage, but I suggest you hasten your pace." Came Vater's voice unexpectedly over the comms. So we _were_ probably running a tad behind. We could manage. I wasn't exactly averse to hanging around for the fight, to be honest.

"Wanda and Sabertooth are on the move as we speak John, if that matters to you at all." Pietro informed us.

"I see that." Pyro remarked, grabbing my arm for balance as the shock wave from the explosion downstairs shook the building. We turned down the hall and had to stop walking for a moment so as not to be trampled by the guards pushing past us or the various fleeing civilian personnel.

"Mind the lifts, please." I requested stepping inside. Pyro stepped in behind me and casually shoved a fleeing scientist who had followed me, back out. Sabertooth growled in confirmation, knowing that my request had been targeted at him. "Thank you, John." Instead of taking the elevator we popped the hatch and began to climb into the shaft. I had just handed Pyro my duffel when I heard Wanda gasp.

"Fluke! The hatch!" I dropped down, away from the opening just in time to avoid losing an arm when the Plexiglas security seal snapped shut.

"Shit! You okay, Onslaught?" John inquired apprehensively. I shot him a withering look through the security seal.

"Spec-fucking-tacular." I confirmed sarcastically. "I'll see you at the rendezvous point."

"Francis?" Pietro queried anxiously.

"I'm fine. Wanda, how'd you know?"

"I've just reached the security center. You're on TV. Hey Dad, you still want me to trash this?"

"Give it a minute." I answered before he could, feeling a wave of irritation from his consciousness in response. Then I transitioned, diving out through the lift-doors. I landed in a crouch in the hall on the… "Where am I?"

"Fourth floor." Wanda informed me. "You've got company, coming at you from the west."

"Lovely." I muttered and hurried down the hall to my left, looking for an escape.

"The lab, two doors down on your right." Wanda ordered. I try not to argue with her. Ever. "Okay. I'm trashing this equipment. You're on your own, Fluke."

"Understood." I said distractedly, looking around the lab. There was a wall of windows opposite the door, both were reinforced, but not against me. There was a gurney covered in straps sitting to my right, and all sorts of testing equipment laid out on a long lab table in the center of the room. I looked at the wall to my right. "And look, we've got a cage. How quaint." I crossed the room, walking towards the windows. I pulled out a match and tossed it onto the lab equipment as I went, causing the security team that was charging into the room to flinch away or duck when the chemicals on it ignited. I simply continued walking toward the windows, stopping to stand a mere foot and a half away.

"Freeze! Hands in the air, where I can see them! Now!" One of the pseudo-SWAT personnel demanded. They were all aiming their semi-automatic rifles at my back. I closed my eyes, accessing the telepathic link with my nearby family members. Predictably, Pietro was within visual range of our father, close enough for me to accurately pinpoint their location. I smiled.

"I said hands in the air!"

"Yes, yes." I said, raising my hands.

"Identify yourself!"

"The name, is Onslaught." I explained. "And this is _really_ going to hurt." I transitioned, shattering the glass and wreaking havoc on the closest guards, those farther away were simply shoved violently back into the wall by the force of it. I fell forward through the window and the edge of the floor, returning to my solid form and quickly letting Vater know exactly what I was doing.

"Holy sh-!" I heard Pyro observe as he saw me falling past. Vater reached out and caught me with his magnekinesis just before I hit the ground. He yanked me towards him through a shattered window using the metal I'd had the forethought to wear at all times.

"You will never do that again!" He commanded, catching me in an unnecessarily firm grip.

"It worked, didn't it?" I defended. Vater pushed me into Pietro's arms.

"Get him out of here." He ordered angrily. Pietro nodded and sped me out of the battle zone, careful to keep his speed below hazardous levels. He left me at a bus stop, distant from anything interesting.

"I'll see you at the rendezvous point." He told me smugly and zipped off to help Vater fight the humans.

"Prat." I remarked to myself.

* * *

><p><strong>BISMARK MOTEL, NEW JERSEY;2010<strong>

Marie walked over to the old, worn couch in the hotel room that she would be sharing with Mystique, Logan and of course, her estranged, half-brother Kurt for yet another long night of waiting. The X-Men and all the young mutants under their protection had finally been driven out of the mansion by the 'New York Blitz', and no. Don't ask me why people were calling it that. The drones doing the bombing had nothing to do with the Germans. The drones and the Sentinels had crept gradually closer, until it was indisputable that everyone would have to split up and go to ground until a new stronghold could be found. Until then, this odd little family unit that they'd somehow cobbled together would have to be enough. They would just have to manage somehow to avoid killing each other until that time.

Marie shifted restlessly on the couch, trying to get comfortable.

"Shhh." Mystique requested sleepily and rolled over in her bed. Marie paused for a second to glare at her sleeping mother, before continuing in her quest for some vague impression of comfort. She shifted more violently, trying to force the lump pushing against her shoulder to straighten out, and a spring stabbed out of the mattress in front of her throat, causing her to let out a little startled squeak.

"That's it!" She exclaimed grumpily and got up off the couch, throwing her pillow at Mystique as she passed, and stomping outside to see what Logan was up to.

"Hey, Logan, anythin'—" Marie began to ask, leaning out the door to speak to him, only to discover his seat was empty. There was a discarded cigar sitting in the ashtray still smoking. _He can't have been gone for too long, then._ She looked around the quiet parking lot for a minute before spotting the bar across the street. She grabbed her jacket and went to look for him there.

* * *

><p>Logan sat at the bar with a nearly untouched glass of beer, covertly observing the other bar patrons, especially that tall brunette sitting in the corner, and the beefy, blonde guy who had arrived with her. He was currently taking up space at the other end of the bar. The minute they'd walked past Logan outside, he'd known that something was up. They just didn't smell right, especially the girl.<p>

"Hey, Logan! There you are." Marie greeted coming over to sit next to him at the bar. "I thought you were going to—" She stopped talking, seeing him shake his head in warning. She leaned in closer, adding more quietly. "Trouble?"

"The emo in the corner booth on your right. Big guy there at the end of the bar on our left." Logan indicated subtly. Marie peeked at them through her peripheral vision, pretending to consider her order.

"Big one's lookin' at you." She told Logan quietly.

"I know."

"Mercs?"

"Could be. Don't know what they're waiting for."

"Should we call it?" Marie questioned with a hand already holding her cell phone in her pocket. Logan nodded to her as the bartender came over to them.

"What's your poison?" The middle-aged and clearly overworked barman asked.

"I'll have what he's got." Marie replied with a practiced smile as she sent the text to warn the others without taking her phone out of her pocket. Upon reflection, she found it rather sad that she'd already gotten so practiced at this. There was an odd, entirely unpleasant sound behind them as if the air was somehow ripping and everyone in the bar felt the same strange disorienting sensation as if time inside the bar had skipped a few seconds. "What the heck was—"

"I know, I have that effect on people." An unfamiliar voice said from behind them. "Hmm, side-effect. Did you catch that?" The scrawny, blond teenager called confidently over his shoulder. The emo girl smirked and nodded. "Good. Alright boys and girls, let's get this party started!" He called enthusiastically and pulled a machete from under his oversized leather jacket and a glock out from his inside pocket and began firing randomly. The other patrons all fled for their lives. Logan's claws extended and he lashed out at the clearly unhinged young man. The emo chick pulled a throwing knife out of her boot and hurled it at Marie who ducked it, pulling out her own gun and firing at her, jumping over the bar to take cover as the emo grabbed her gun to return the favor. The big blond guy lumbered forward, getting ready to come after her but the emo girl held up a hand to stop him.

"What…" Marie muttered to herself as the shooting stopped. She peeked over the edge to see what her attacker was up to and her eyes widened. The tall skinny brunette was standing perfectly still with her eyes shut and her arms held out at her sides. There were wires ripping themselves eagerly out of the wall to stretch out towards her and wind themselves around her slender arms. Marie ducked back behind the bar and looked up at the signs facing her. They were beginning to flicker ominously. The circuitry around her was going haywire. "I hate technopaths!" Marie declared to no one in particular, leaning back over the bar to open fire again, vying for a miraculous escape. She stopped when she felt a familiar sensation on the edge of her consciousness, growing stronger by the second. One of the signs behind her blew and she ducked away shielding her face. "Shit!"

The big guy grabbed her by her jacket and yanked her out of her hiding place. Mystique and Nightcrawler teleported in, just in time to see him bash her against the bar top, knocking her gun out of her grip. Mystique darted towards them but the technopath sent some of her wires out to wrap around her, shocking her as she fell to the floor. Nightcrawler teleported over and kicked her into the wall. She tried to wrap more wires around him, but he kept teleporting away before they could get a hold on him.

Over on the other side of the bar, Logan and the scrawny blond jerk where still locked in battle. Logan swept his claws down in front of him in what should have been a deadly move, but once again there was the strange impression of missing time, and the horrible ripping sound and his opponent was suddenly gone.

"What the—" Logan said, at a loss. Boney arms wrapped around his neck tightly, from behind and cut off his air supply. Logan caught a glimpse of a barcode tattooed on his attacker's chest right bellow his collar bone.

"I know! I'm good at that. Don't you think?" The strange mutant choking him remarked cheerfully. There was a loud, crashing, boom as I used my ability to burst in through the ill-designed wall. Logan's would-be-murderer let go in surprise and instead got his face slashed for his trouble.

"Oh, dear. How unpleasant of you. I gather he's not a friend." I commented lightly, as the other boy stumbled back clutching at his face. Everyone else had paused to look at us. Logan surveyed me irritably.

"There's a door, Kid." He informed me. I shrugged surveying the wall that I had destroyed.

"I know." I admitted. "It's just cool to do." I picked up a chunk of it and struck the beefcake over the head with it to stop him from crushing my cousin to death. She let out an undignified but semi-grateful grunt when he collapsed on top of her lower half. Logan jogged over to help Nightcrawler and Mystique. "You must admit, it wasn't exactly a 'perfectly good wall'. I wrecked it in one go." I pointed out helping, Marie up. "The others are on their way." I told -or perhaps warned- her. Our alliances were already rather ill-defined at that stage.

"Great." She responded sarcastically. In the background Nightcrawler knocked the technopath out and began to help Logan untangle Mystique.

"You're wel—" I faltered as we were hit with another time-skip. "What was that?"

"It's him." Marie informed me, her grip on my hand tightening as she looked at the spot where the other lab-made mutant had been before. Logan and Nightcrawler had almost gotten Mystique untangled when the disappearing maniac reappeared behind Logan and slit his throat.

"No!" Kurt cried and Mystique scrambled back, grabbing a chair and hurling it at their attacker, but he just vanished again. Pyro came into the bar with Vater close behind.

"No. Stay where you are!" Marie warned. We all looked around for any sign of him.

"That just isn't fair." I observed.

"That was the idea." He replied casually, appearing on my right. Marie flinched and dove for her gun. "Ah, ah!" He cautioned playfully, pointing his gun at her. I scoffed and grabbed a bit of pipe off the floor, hitting him in the side with it. He fell to the floor and vanished, grabbing me from behind in the same moment, and shoving me face-first into the bartop. Vater cursed at him furiously in German and hurled the sink at him with his magnekinesis. The bastard just vanished in another timeslip. I pushed myself up off the bar and spit out a mouthful of blood onto the floor. Logan woke up and got up off the floor, coughing.

"Who _is_ this guy?" Pyro exclaimed tightly.

"He's another one of you." Logan ground out, looking over at me almost accusingly.

"So is she." Nightcrawler told us, checking the emo girl on the floor for a barcode.

"That's not a good sign." Pyro commented, coming to stand beside me. "No offense, Squirt, but one of you is plenty enough, as it is."

"Don't call me tha— Vater!" I interrupted myself as the other one reappeared to my Vater's left moving to shoot him. Vater held up a hand and picked him up off the ground by the metal in his clothes.

"Magneto." The teen noted, smirking. "I called it! I really did. I always knew Thirteen'd turn out to be a real Daddy's boy."

"Who are you and why have you come here?" Magneto asked, ignoring his captive's idiocy.

"Nine, sometimes Tempus. You've had your time; now it's ours. We want Thirteen back."

Pyro raised his eyebrows at me in incredulous amusement.

"I'd like to decline my invitation." I told 'Tempus' drily.

"No kidding." Pyro remarked.

"It is not a request. You are one of us. You belong with—"

"No." I snapped angrily, walking over to Logan and Aunt Mystique and helping her up off the floor. "You alright?" I asked more calmly. She nodded. "Good. Let's get out of here, shall we?" We left the bar with Nightcrawler and Marie following close behind. Marie paused to exchange a suspicious look with Logan.

"Go on, Kid." Logan prompted, and with one more distrustful look at Magneto, she followed us out. Pyro moved to leave as well, but Magneto stopped him, wanting to have him handy in case they needed to use his skills in their interrogation.

* * *

><p>"You alright?" Marie asked tentatively from where she sat next to me on the bed. I nodded mutely. "How did ya'll even get here so fast?"<p>

"We didn't know about Tempus but the other two have been very busy in the past month. Vater's been tracking them."

"I see." Marie responded. "Listen, that stuff he said—"

"I'm not a child anymore. I know." I told her quickly. "I'm sure we can handle them."

Right after I said that we were all disoriented by the sudden sensation of time skipping a few seconds ahead. Mystique was the first to realize what was happening.

"Francis!" She yelled, running towards me but Tempus had already wrapped his arms around my waist, and with a strange, rushing cacophony, he pulled me along with him through another time-space jump.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay guys. That was the last post before my trip. I hope you liked it. I may not be able to update again before I get back, in about a week. Sorry about that. I will if I can, but I kinda doubt it'll happen. Anyway, thanks for reading. Special thanks to Nile and RileyBear 14 for reviewing. As always, please review.


	21. Against the Dying of the Light

**Chapter 21: Against the Dying of the Light**

Charles and Erik walked quietly back inside together, not wanting to disturb anyone who might be winding down for the night. I strolled out of the kitchen and brushed past Erik on my way to my room.

"You've missed dinner." I told them casually as I passed, then stopped two steps behind them. "Oh dear." I commented, still not bothering to keep my voice down. Erik turned to frown at me in annoyance.

"Oh…" Charles echoed, picking up Raven's anxiety as well, and turning to her as she ran up to us. "Raven, what's wrong?"

"It's Hank! I tried to talk to him… He's going to do it. He wouldn't listen! He was being a total jerk about it—but that's not the point." Raven babbled urgently. Charles and I exchanged a knowing look. I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. This didn't concern me. Charles frowned in disapproval and then he was off like a shot, speeding up the stairs, to Hank's lab. Raven and Erik moved to follow. I put two fingers to my lips and whistled. They flinched and turned to look at me.

"Not a good idea." I told them seriously. "The last thing he needs right now is a crowd. He'll be frightened enough by the change as it is." Raven's eyes widened.

"You mean he's already…"

"Not quite yet." I said. I felt a wave of terror, fear and self-disgust. There was a scream-turned-roar from upstairs, followed by a loud crash. "There he goes." Raven swallowed, turning blue once again, her yellow eyes wide as saucers.

"He'll be fine." I remarked unconvincingly.

"What exactly has he done?" Erik demanded.

"That serum of his doesn't work." I explained. Raven looked worriedly up the stairs as we heard another roar. "Well… that isn't entirely accurate. As you know, he was attempting to create a cure for physical mutations; instead he's created a violently potent mutagen."

"There was no need for a cure." Erik asserted bitterly.

"No don't go in!" I objected aloud as I projected the message to Charles. The others' gazes snapped to me. "…I'm not. This is simply damage control… It's a matter of perspective, that's all."

"Perhaps I should join him." Erik thought aloud. I scoffed, returning my full attention to him.

"Don't worry Magnet-o. Your fair maiden is perfectly safe. He's just trying to calm the Beast."

"What?" Raven snapped.

"He'll be fine." I assured her quickly, inching back towards the kitchen. " How about a cocoa?" She glared murderously at me. "To help you relax. …So that you don't kill me before our medic recovers." I added the last bit under my breath.

* * *

><p>"Hank!" Charles called, running up the stairs and down the hall towards the lab. He skidded to a halt at the sound of the scream-roar, seeing the door shake ominously during the loud, shattering crash. He flinched and grabbed his head as he was hit by the rush of negative emotion, pain and disorientation from Hank's mind.<p>

"Hank?" Charles questioned, continuing toward his door more carefully. "Hank? Can you hear me?" There was another roar, right when Charles touched the doorknob. He snatched his hand away reflexively.

_**No, don't go in!**_ I projected impatiently.

_**If you're so concerned, Francis, you're welcome to help.**_ Charles projected back, stepping up to the door. He knew Hank wasn't going to hurt him. He was only trying to scare him away in his panic.

"Hank, listen to me. I'm here to help you." Charles said in a calming tone. Hank let out a half-hearted growl, but stopped thrashing around as much.

_**I'm not. This is just damage control.**_ I assured Charles.

"I know. I'm sorry." Charles continued to soothe the frightened mutant. "I can wait out here for as long as it takes. You don't have to open this door until you're ready." There was a shuffling inside, nowhere near as manic as before. _**You knew what he was going to do and yet, you never even considered stopping him.**_ Charles projected to me as he sat down beside Hank's locked door. _**Do you truly care so little about the people around you?**_

_**It's a matter of perspective, that's all.**_ I replied simply.

* * *

><p><strong>APPROX. 600 METERS UNDERGROUND, LOCATION UNKNOWN; 2010<strong>

"Have fun… _Francis_." Tempus mocked before disappearing in another timeskip. I turned slowly, taking in my surroundings. I was standing on an elevated, metal platform in a large, reinforced, vaguely conical structure. There was a heavily reinforced door across the short catwalk on my right. I walked across and peered out the circular window. Cylindrical cement corridors, uniformed patrols… I'm in an underground military base… The soldiers posted out in the hall wore American Army uniforms. Hmm, so Sinister switched masters once again. Good to know, I suppose.

"Don't bother, Thirteen." Came Sinister's voice over a pair of speakers rigged to the pinnacle of the conical ceiling. "I've designed this chamber with your specific needs in mind." I transitioned my hand and tried to push it through the door. It was reflected back halfway in. There must be a layer of Plexiglas in there. "Only the strongest, most reliable insulators were used."

"I'm flattered. Get to the point." I responded stoically. _Merde!_ I guess I'm trapped. I'll have to just wait here and mind the Idiot until _Vater_ and his Brotherhood come to retrieve me.

"You seem to have been presented with an unfortunately warped view of your place in this world." Sinister purred. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to stifle my growing aggravation and made my way back across the catwalk to the central platform.

"No need to fuss. I chose to disregard your nonsense lectures early on." I replied.

"We've had Nine bring you home to us so that we can help you find your way again." Sinister continued, ignoring the jibe. "You've let human emotion weaken you. We will help to cure you of that."

I paused a beat, leaning on the metal railing and shooting the nearest camera an incredulous expression.

"You sound like a campy 'Doctor Who' villain." I observed, then sat with my back against the railing propping my chin on one hand as I tried to decide whether he was more like a Cyberman or a Dalek. All I had to do was wait. The others would come for me. I tried to reach one of my siblings' minds telepathically; then after that failed, I reached out to Dad's. Nope, not happening. I could still feel the slightest ghosts of their consciousness but something was keeping me from making direct contact. I guessed that Sinister had most likely lined my chamber with a blocking material of some sort, maybe even the same one used in _Vater's_ helmet.

Three weeks in, my faith in _Vater's_ Brotherhood began to falter. I tried to remind myself that we were family, and that he wouldn't just sit by and let his son be taken, tortured and brainwashed as Sinister was attempting to do. He would come for me. I would spend my time alone trying to figure out a way to escape.

On week Five, after being drowned to the point of cardiac arrest twice and drugged with various hallucinogens on and off, I felt officially abandoned. Every now and then, I would pick up stray thoughts from the soldiers when I was being moved to and from my chamber or when they brought my food. They were concerned about the X-men. It seemed Dad's team was starting to cause them some serious trouble. Good for them.

Finally, a month and a half into my captivity, something changed. Sinister was going on one of his long rants about the greatness of his creations and the necessity of our obtaining dominance over the inferior, natural mutants. I wondered if he ever noticed how obvious he was being.

"You can and will show them the truth. They are nothing compared to you. We have made them obsolete. You are the fut—" The intercom was abruptly shut off.

"Finally." I remarked, leaning back against the door. There was a deep mechanical hum and then all the lights went out. I got up and tried the door. Nope. Still trapped. He _would_ have a contingency for something like this. A swarm of soldiers rushed past my little window as the backup generator kicked in. I leaned against the door and watched. What else was there to do? God, being a prisoner was boring. I vowed never to do it again. A few minutes later the intercom crackled to life, this time broadcasting all over the base.

"Attention intruders currently destroying my facility, I have something that is quite valuable to you… or rather, _someone_." Sinister announced, sounding furious. The shielded camera that was closest to me turned to me and zoomed in. "If you will please note on one of the many view-screens conveniently located throughout this base, I can confirm that Subject 13, or…Oh, what was it you people call him. Oh yes, Onslaught is alive and relatively unharmed." I jumped, looking up at the vents above me as they opened with a loud hiss, beginning to rapidly suck the air out of the room. "For the next 30 seconds." Sinister finished. "I'd start searching if I were you. It wouldn't be good parenting to let your child suffocate now, would it."

"Oh, son of a—" I exclaimed and transitioned, still leaning against the door, and returned to solid form the next second so as not to fall through the catwalk. The sonic boom I emitted didn't even put a crack in the window. I turned and kicked the door in frustration. "God bloody damn you motherf—" I cut myself off beginning to have trouble breathing. "Alright, shut up. Conserve your oxygen." I reminded myself. Then closed my eyes resting my forehead against the cool Plexiglas window as I focused all of my energy on somehow reaching the others outside. Marie was probably here. Focus on her. Come on, you can do this.

The air was getting too thin. I gasped, slumping against the door. Focus! This is not how I am going to die! There wasn't enough air to breathe. Outside three soldiers were thrown back by someone with massive strength. I slid down the door, grabbing at it in a futile attempt to remain standing. I could barely keep my eyes open. Don't bother. Keep trying. There was a fleeting flicker of a familiar mind.

"Mar—" I gasped as I lay on the catwalk. A tail wrapped around me pulling me back into a pair of strong arms. I cracked my eyes open and saw a welcome, blue and black blur just before I passed out.

"Francis? Francis!" Someone demanded in a characteristically shrill, bossy tone as someone shook me. I coughed and gasped in a few gulps of air before daring to open my eyes. Beast was checking my pulse from his place by my head, Marie and Nightcrawler were leaning over me on either side.

"What!" I snapped. The others relaxed looking relieved.

"OhthankGod!" Marie breathed slumping back against the wall. Beast touched his earpiece.

"We got him. He's weak, but alive."

"Thank you, Beast." I responded. Oh bollocks. I did sound rather weak.

"He's breathing." Reported a familiar male voice from somewhere by my feet. I looked up to see, yep, Pietro.

"You're late." I told him by way of greeting. He nodded and opened his mouth to reply but then sped forward to shield me and Marie from a grenade going off mere feet behind the spot he'd recently vacated. Beast growled, getting up from where he'd tackled/crushed Nightcrawler out of the way.

"Everyone okay?" Marie asked.

"Fucking brilliant." Pietro replied, then scooped me up and blurred around the corner as the soldiers opened fire. Beast ducked behind the fallen rubble as best he could while Marie returned fire with her twin handguns.

"Kurt?" She prompted. Nightcrawler disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What the!" A soldier exclaimed, then there was a grunt and a thud as he was knocked out.

"Look out!" Another cried. Then a whipping sound, followed by a pained gurgle, and then finally the sound of two more unconscious bodies dropping to the floor.

"All finished." Nightcrawler called. Pietro sped us over to join him.

"Do that again one more time and I promise to throw up on you." I threatened truthfully.

"We need to get him outta here." Marie noted. Pietro turned his head as his comms activated once more.

"Yes Father." He acknowledged. " I know but—" He sighed. "Yes, Father."

"There a problem?" Marie inquired, her grip on her guns tightening. The muscle in Pietro's jaw twitched and he pushed me into Nightcrawler's arms. His expression had become nearly as neutral as my own.

"Get him out of here." He told the teleporter.

"I am not a damsel." I protested snarkily, locking onto my brother's mind. As predicted, he ignored me reflexively. I had sensed the tension around me and his own disapproval of what he was about to do. I drew in a shocked breath as I caught it.

"Marie!" I shouted in warning as he blurred into action. She shot at him but, naturally, missed. He took out beast first then grabbed and disarmed her faster than the eye could follow. "No!" But Nightcrawler had teleported us away.

* * *

><p><strong>WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK: 1962<strong>

When Charles finally returned to his room for the night, he found Erik sitting on his bed reading his thesis. It was clear that he'd been waiting there for him for a while. Charles just sighed exhaustedly, kicking off his shoes and walked round to the other side of the bed. He then flopped down on top of the covers face first, without even bothering to take off his suit jacket. Erik eyed him for a second, then wordlessly closed his book and peeled said jacket off for him, draping it over the arm of the chair beside him.

"Turn over." Erik suggested.

"Mmff." Charles groaned sleepily into his pillow. Erik just rolled him over manually and freed the stubbornly limp telepath of his cardigan as well, pulling the blankets over him. Erik had been hoping that they'd be able to talk more, but was willing to wait until morning and let the younger man sleep. He turned out the lamp and began to leave, but stopped at the sound of Charles' voice.

"Erik." Charles nearly whispered. Erik turned in the doorway to look at him questioningly.

"Yes, Charles?"

"Stay with me?" Charles requested tentatively. "Please?"

Erik swallowed, eyeing Charles uncertainly. _This could be a very bad idea._ Just when Charles was certain that he'd be turned down he felt the mattress dip as Erik joined him, draping an arm over him protectively.

"Thankyou." Charles murmured, beginning to fall back to sleep.

"Good night, Charles." Erik replied.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Okay guys, sorry for the long wait. This chapter ended up being a bit shorter than originally planned, but i think it works. I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out fairly soon, the middle of next week perhaps... I don't know. Anyway, thanks for reading this. Special thanks to GreenIron for reviewing. As always, please review.


	22. A Spanner in the Works

**Chapter 22: A Spanner in the Works**

Charles snapped awake. It took him a minute to register where he was. Even then it didn't stop the horror and panic of his dream from invading his perception. This was the worst of his nightmares, so vivid it created an illusion that followed him into waking life. He struggled to catch his breath, trying to convince himself that this, his familiar moonlit bedroom, was real, and the images in his mind were false. A strong arm wrapped around him from behind and he tensed, sucking in a startled gasp.

"Shh… Relax, _Maus_." Erik whispered into his ear. "It was only a nightmare." Charles sighed in relief, remembering his request earlier that night. He gradually began to relax, turning to burrow further into Erik's chest.

"Erik." He acknowledged, letting out a little nervous laugh.

"You're safe." Erik assured him, rubbing soothing circles in his back. Charles sniffed, trying to calm himself down. There was a long pause, finally broken by Charles.

"It's all running together in my head." He noted in a small voice. "All of my fears, all of my sins…" Erik looked down at the mess of wavy chestnut hair tucked under his chin, finding it difficult to imagine Charles committing any terrible sin, let alone hiding it.

"I'm no angel, my friend." Charles assured him, having picked up the thought. He went silent again, fiddling with the edge of the sheet. "Erik, if something happens to me—"

"Don't" Erik interrupted, his hold on Charles tightening.

"If I don't survive—"

"You will." Erik affirmed. Charles made a little frustrated sound.

"We don't know what's going to happen, and what we do know would seem to indicate that the odds are against us all returning from this mission." He persisted. "I need to know that Raven and the others will be alright in my absence."

"Of course they would. I would make certain of it, but Charles—"

"I'm not giving up." Charles replied reasonably. "I'm just being practical." He paused a beat. "After all, someone else would have to at least attempt to keep our son in line." He added, trying to lighten the mood. Erik smiled slightly.

"You should mention that to the others. You'll be sure to return without a scratch."

"Mmm. What time is it?"

"One o'clock."

"How long have you been—Oh." Charles said, realizing that Erik had, in fact, been awake all night. "I'm sorry."

"Don't. You haven't done anything wrong." Erik told him. Charles drew in a deep breath, repositioning himself to look earnestly into Erik's face.

"You should get some rest, Darling." He suggested. Erik raised an eyebrow at him.

"Go back to sleep, _Schatz_."

"Oh I plan to. And thank you. I much prefer that one. I hardly resemble a mouse." Charles informed him.

Erik smiled.

"I am not a mouse." Charles declared seriously before shutting his eyes and getting comfortable.

"Of course not." Erik agreed. "Goodnight _Myszko_."

Charles opened his eyes to look at him suspiciously. Erik looked right back at him with his best impression of an innocent expression.

* * *

><p>"Charles and Erik were the last to arrive for breakfast, on the morning of our fateful mission."<p>

"Could you please pass the syrup?"

"Marie asked Raven politely, ignoring Alex's idiotic attempts to get her attention."

"I swear to God, Francis, shut up or I will make you!"

"The blond threatened ineffectually."

"That _is_ getting pretty annoying."

"Sean agreed, perhaps another feeble attempt to impress-"

"Stop narrating me!"

"He screeched hideously."

"Francis!"

"Marie—"

"Eat your breakfast." Charles ordered, disinterested, pushing my plate towards me as he took his seat.

"Guys, just ignore him." Darwin suggested. "Your attention only encourages him. I'm pretty sure it's a coping mechanism. He's just trying to distract himself from his own anxiety about facing Shaw."

"Darwin theorized erroneously in a futile attempt at control." I narrated, undeterred. Darwin frowned at me before returning his attention to his French toast.

"Maybe we could sic Francis on Shaw."

"Sean remarked, helping himself to more sausages, despite the fact that he'd already had twice as much food as any of the rest of us."

"Hey!"

"Actually, that time he had a point."

"Alex observed, reaching with his armpit held over Marie's plate like an utter douche—"

"That's it! You die!" Alex announced. We both jumped up at the same time. He lunged at me. I made to dart away into the kitchen. Both our efforts were spoiled as Erik grabbed us by our collars, using his magnekinesis to further trap us. Logan re-entered the dining room at that moment, squinting quizzically at the scene.

"No one is killing Francis." Erik declared. Logan gave a little half nod and went to reclaim his seat at the table. "And _no one _is going to narrate breakfast." Erik continued, looking pointedly at me. "Now sit down, and finish your food."

"Yes, Mummy." I muttered as I picked up my fork. My spoon flew into my orange juice and splashed me. Alex smirked, while Charles shot Erik a disapproving look over the table. He gave a little unrepentant half-shrug in response.

"Where's Hank?" Moira inquired, turning to Charles.

"He'll be skipping breakfast this morning." I replied.

Raven looked up at me, clearly still concerned for him.

_**He's fine.**_ I projected to her, taking a bite of sausage, and she jumped, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. The others glanced at her.

"Francis." Erik warned, assuming correctly that it was my fault.

"Mmm." I acknowledged, pulling the spoon out of my orange juice. The others lost interest and split up into their own conversations.

"How did you?" Raven asked me quietly.

"It's easier with f—" I began. Marie snapped her gaze to my face. "I can reach minds that I'm already familiar enough with without much of a problem." Raven narrowed her eyes in suspiciousion. Charles tried to act as though he wasn't listening in. "I have no reason to invade your privacy." I assured her. "I already know you quite well."

She didn't seem very reassured by that answer.

"Maybe you do." She replied. "Maybe, I'm different."

* * *

><p>Later in Hank's lab, Charles opened the chest and pulled out one of the uniforms inside, passing it to Darwin.<p>

"Seriously, where is Ha—Uh, what is that and why is it yellow?" Darwin queried, holding the uniform away from him.

"It's not." Alex corrected, eyeing his own disapprovingly. "It's blue and yellow. _So_ much worse."

"I'm not wearing that." I told Charles as he tried to hand me the one that Hank had designed for me.

"Yes, you are." He responded primly, pushing it into my arms. "Now, unless you all are bulletproof and able to withstand considerable G-force, I suggest that you put those on." Darwin's face lit up, his expression falling at the pointed look from Erik that clearly said 'If I have to, you all must suffer as well'.

"Why not just _start_ with black? I liked black." I commented, following the others out. "A bit biker chic, but not terribly objectionable."

"You never had to wear it." Marie pointed out, holding the door for me.

"True, but I expect this'll be just as uncomfortable." I said, switching into a fake American accent. "Still just as unnecessarily tight as the later model _plus_ additional clashing! Buy now and blind your enemies with Hank's patented X-men uniform 1.0!" Marie grinned at me.

"There's an edge we never had before." She remarked, jokingly. "Who knows maybe it'll work."

* * *

><p>The first part of the mission was much the same as it had been the previous time around. A mostly uneventful plane trip to Cuba. Dad 'discovering' that the crew of one Russian ship were all dead and making the other Russian ship open fire on it with his telepathy, forgetting to mention it to Hank before he did so.<p>

"Mind telling me next time you decide to do something like that?" Hank asked irritably.

"Sorry." Charles replied, then returned his attention to his search for Shaw. "They're underwater somewhere. I'm having difficulty pinpointing their location.

"Sonar?" I inquired from my seat in between Erik and Marie.

"We don't have any." Moira responded, looking back at us over her shoulder. Charles and Sean exchanged a look.

"Yes we do." Sean declared. Charles nodded to him and they unstrapped themselves, moving to the back of the plane. Erik followed suit.

"Whoa! Stay back." Sean said untrustingly, and Erik held out his hands, smirking as he backed up to stand on the other side of the doors.

I narrowed my eyes, picking up an unusual impression that seemed to be coming from the sub beneath us. I looked back at Charles. He was still instructing Sean, clearly not having picked it up. There it was again, but stronger this time. It almost seemed as though it was getting closer.

"Hey Francis, you okay?" Alex asked, apparently I'd gone 'ghostly pale'. Good to know. I didn't respond, focusing on trying to identify the strange impression. Sean was in the water now. "Francis!" Alex snapped, trying to get a reaction. Erik turned back to look at us curiously.

"Yeah, yeah. Just piss off, would you?" I replied shortly. My vision flickered. Raven's eyes snapped to my face. Erik had returned his attention to the task at hand while Charles got the location of the sub from Sean.

"You ready?" Charles asked, Erik nodded and climbed down onto the leg of the jet as Hank extended the landing gear. "Remember what we practiced." Erik nodded, focusing on the sub in the water beneath us. Charles leaned forward a little more, watching him.

"Charles." Erik prompted protectively, not fancying the idea of watching his dear friend fall out of the plane.

"You sure you're okay?" Alex questioned, unconvinced. Logan was silently watching my hand as it moved to rest on the buckle to my seatbelt. Raven was already carefully undoing hers, her eyes locked onto my face. Erik had finally lifted the sub out of the water, oblivious to the exchange going on in our part of the plane. Riptide was climbing out and beginning to form his whirlwinds, but Charles put a finger to his temple and froze him.

"Francis!" Marie cried out in surprise when I darted for the doors, and Raven lunged forward to grab me. I shoved her away into Alex's arms.

"Shit! Grab him!" She shouted. Logan grabbed hold of my arm. I punched him hard in the throat and dove out of the plane, startling Charles into losing his hold on Riptide. When I reached the sub I transitioned, adding to the chaos as Riptide released one of his whirlwinds. Charles was thrown violently back into the ceiling, then the wall before Erik caught him using his ability to anchor them to the plane. Needless to say, much like before, both vessels crashed on the beach.

* * *

><p>"Everybody alright?" Moira called out after she'd recovered from the shock. Most of the others all muttered replies. Erik wasn't even listening. He carefully lowered Charles down to the ceiling then shakily gathered his limp form in his arms and felt for a pulse, only slightly reassured when he found a strong steady one.<p>

"Erik?" Raven asked woozily, then caught sight of them, and more importantly, the blood on Charles' forehead. "Charles!" She exclaimed, hurriedly releasing her grip on Alex's seat and flipping, catlike onto the ground to run over to them. Erik patted Charles' cheek, trying to wake him.

"Charles? Charles. Please_,_ wake up." He urged as the others wrestled their way out of their seats. Logan went to look out at the beach, having used his claws to cut himself down right after Raven had run past him. Charles finally let out a groan of pain, beginning to come to. Raven let out a huge sigh of relief.

"What? Augh!" Charles muttered, then seemed to realize where he was and tried to sit up. "Ah! Alright, that was a mistake." He observed tightly.

"McCoy!" Erik commanded. Hank was already starting towards them.

"We've got another problem." Logan observed, watching Azazel teleport onto the beach, hand in hand with Angel. Moira went to stand beside him and look out.

"I'll be fine." Charles assured Raven and Erik. "Go."

"Charles, no!" Raven argued immediately. Erik hesitated briefly, looking intently at Charles' face before looking up at the others.

"Darwin, Alex, Logan: go help Sean keep them occupied." He ordered, ignoring Logan's reproachful expression. "Raven, stay here and guard the jet." Raven nodded, still holding Charles' hand in a death-grip as Hank began to assess his injuries. Erik strode purposefully out of the jet.

"Rogue, you're with me." He concluded, not even looking over his shoulder to check if she would obey. She hastened to follow. Azazel teleported over to stab her, but Logan tackled him, stabbing him in the shoulder with his claws and they both disappeared in a puff of smoke. Riptide moved to attack as they neared the sub, but Erik brought down a portion of the hull on him and ran right over him into the sub. Marie politely stepped around the poor bloke, almost feeling sorry for him.

_**Shaw is absorbing the energy from the sub's reactor. You'll have to shut it down once you're inside**_. Charles projected to them.

_**Where is it? Direct us to it, and we'll shut it off.**_ Erik replied. Charles led them to a lounge of sorts near the center of the sub.

"So, what d'you want me for?" Marie inquired, shutting off the reactor.

"Find Francis and figure out what he thinks he's doing. I'm going after Shaw." Erik told her distractedly.

"Alright then. It might be tricky. He didn't exactly seem himself..." Marie pointed out. Erik gave her a look. "Right. Um... Good luck?" She said awkwardly, and went off to start searching.

_**Do you have a position on Shaw?**_ Erik asked Charles, feeling a wave of discomfort from the telepath that had nothing to do with his injuries. _**Charles?**_

_**It's exactly the same as before.**_

_**Where?**_

_**The Void.**_

_**Charles…**_

_**You're right next to it. If it's anything like before… He's waiting for you.**_ Charles explained unhappily. Erik looked up as a sliding door opened, revealing Shaw inside a room walled with mirrors.

"Erik, I'm glad that you could join me."

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Okay, I'm not 100% on the Polish and German words so if I've gotten anything wrong, please let me know. I did my best but I don't speak those languages so... Anyway, I hope you guys liked this. I'm a little nervous about it to be honest. Don't really know how I'm doing, but I hope it's ok. Thanks for reading, and please review.


	23. Remember Me

**Chapter 23: Remember Me**

_**Erik, **__**no**__**. I can't reach you in there! Please, just wait. **_Charles urged, feeling his heartrate skyrocket along with his panic. Erik hesitated.

"Trust me." He replied decisively, and stepped into the void.

* * *

><p>Charles sucked in a shaky breath, flinching as the movement stressed his broken rib. He let out a cry of frustration and struck the wall that he was leaning against. Hank paused in treating Charles' leg wound to look over at him apprehensively.<p>

"Professor…"

"I know, yes, keep still. Remain calm." Charles recited irritably. "I remember… He's gone into the void, and I can't reach him. I can't even reach Francis, and that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!" Hank increased the pressure on the deep gash in Charles' thigh, causing him to cry out in pain. The furry blue mutant was obviously still far more concerned with keeping Charles from bleeding to death.

"I'm sorry Professor, but we need to slow the bleeding as much as possible. Try to—"

"I get the point: remain still." Charles breathed quickly.

"So I guess now would be a bad time to mention that the comms are fried." Moira put in from her place at the front of the jet.

"No…" Charles replied sarcastically, shaking his head. Hank shot him a warning look and he stilled. "H-how bad?"

"This whole control panel's FUBAR." Moira reported.

"Then forget it. I need your help with him." Hank informed her in a businesslike tone. "Bring that other med kit over here; I'm going to need more gauze." Moira grabbed the med kit and crouched down on Charles' other side.

* * *

><p>"I am sorry about your mother." Shaw told Erik with transparent insincerity. "But everything that I did, I only did to make you stronger." Erik lunged at him and tried to punch him in the jaw, but Shaw flickered, remaining untouched, and threw Erik back into the wall with a blast of energy. Erik lay there stunned for a moment, but stubbornly shook it off and pushed himself up off the ground as soon as he could.<p>

_**Erik?**_ Charles' voice whispered in his mind. It was faint but Erik was sure he could sense the familiar warm, friendly signature, laced with the impression of Assam tea and old, dusty books on the periphery of his thoughts. He stole a quick look around as he got up, taking note of the great big crack he'd put in the mirrored wall behind him. _So __**that**__ is 'the Void'._ Shaw was talking again, but Erik was only half listening to him now. He needed to even the playing field. He used his magnekinesis to rip out a large piece of the broken mirror and hurl it at Shaw. Shaw flickered again and the shard went right past him, embedding itself deeply in the opposite wall with a loud shatter.

Shaw smiled at him as if he were humoring a small child who was having a temper tantrum. He began to stroll towards him. He showed no concern when Erik began yanking out even larger pieces of the sub to block his way.

"It's our time now, Erik." Shaw was saying, undeterred by the attempts to block and maim him. "We are the future. Humanity's time has come and gone." Erik was forced to take a few steps back as the metal beam that he had pulled down in between them was bent towards him by the kinetic energy that the other mutant was radiating.

_**Erik…**_

_**I know Charles. Let me focus.**_ Erik projected back tensely, as he was pinned to the wall by the beams that he himself had brought down seconds before. Shaw was eyeing him expectantly.

"I agree with everything that you've just said-" Erik bluffed. Shaw crossed his arms and leaned back, letting out a disapproving huff.

"That's not the line." He quipped. "You forgot the part where you compare me to Dr. Frankenstein." A truly disturbing grin was spreading across his face. "And yourself, to his monster."

"What?" Erik breathed, feeling a horrible sense of dread beginning to come over him. "How did you know that?"

"Oh, no. That's not your biggest problem at the moment." Shaw corrected. Erik felt a spike of fear from Charles' end of their connection. "What you should be asking yourself is: 'Where exactly did my dear son run off to?'" Shaw announced gleefully. The chamber door slid open once again and Marie stumbled in with her own gun being pressed to the back of her head by… My hand.

"Francis?" Erik questioned, looking from Marie's murderous expression to the unfamiliar stony expression on my face. My eyes were twin pools of black nothingness. "Amaul Farouk." Erik growled hatefully.

"It's Francis now." The Shadow King responded lightly.

"It _really_ isn't." Marie spat venomously.

"Quiet, please." The Shadow King requested, pressing the barrel of the gun even harder into the back of her skull. Erik's gaze shifted to the gun as he tried to take hold of it with his ability. "Ah, no. Sorry Mr. Lensherr, I'm going to be using this for now." The Shadow King apologized as Erik struggled to use his magnekinesis as if something was jamming it. Shaw's grin widened, only to fall from his face a second later. "But you know, tell you what, in all fairness you go ahead and kill this one. He's nuts, I mean _absolutely_…" My possessor gestured to my head in a vaguely spasmodic gesture. "And he did murder your mother, which was just _mean_, so…"

Shaw reached out a hand to strike out at Farouk, but my eyes flashed with a strange, black light and he went still as a statue. Marie's eyes widened in shock and she and Erik exchanged a tense look. Erik effortlessly pushed the metal that had been pinning him away and turned to the Shadow King.

"He's still wearing his helmet." He observed tensely. The Shadow King shrugged my shoulders.

"The kid's got potential." He stated simply, then gestured to Shaw, looking askance at Erik. Erik ran the reichsmark through his fingers thoughtfully, before his jaw clenched and he propelled the coin right through Shaw's forehead in one swift movement. He watched the body fall to the floor expressionlessly ignoring the way that Farouk was still studying him intently as though searching for something.

Instead, Erik looked over at Marie. She swallowed thickly and hastily averted her gaze to the floor. He could see that she was beginning to tremble.

"Better?" Farouk inquired, not having ceased his odd searching stare.

"No." Erik answered succinctly.

"It never is." Farouk reflected. "Which reminds me… Charlie? I know that you're listening. About the attempts to kill you: I'm sorry. That was a mistake. I am very glad that I failed." At that, Marie flashed a WTF expression. Erik just stared at the Shadow King, looking biblically enraged, as he continued. "You really turned out to be useful. I mean the kid takes after you. You should be proud…well, while you still can."

"Seriously? What is wrong with you!" Marie demanded. Erik's eyes snapped to hers and he shook his head. This guy was clearly unhinged.

"Don't be rude, Young Lady. We're to go outside now." The Shadow King declared, looking pointedly up into Erik's face. "I am only going to say this once: If you try anything I will shoot her." He nodded to the doorway. "You first." Erik went through, obediently leading the way out of the submarine.

_**Charles?**_ Erik projected, trying to ignore his growing worry. Charles' presence had begun to fade from his consciousness. _**Charles, please, say something.**_

"He can't answer you." The Shadow King informed him disinterestedly. "He's gone into shock." Erik stilled, standing motionless in the opening. The Shadow King cleared his throat meaningfully. Erik showed no response. "Move." Farouk ordered, pushing his shoulder, he barely even blinked. "I said: Move!" The Shadow King insisted, shooting Marie through the shoulder as punishment. At the sound of her scream Erik finally obeyed. The others on the beach had stopped to see what was happening.

"Wh—Francis?" Sean muttered in disbelief.

"It's not him." Darwin stated with finality. Interestingly, Azazel was glaring at Farouk nearly as angrily as Logan. Farouk dragged Marie out onto the beach by her collar. She hung onto my wrist with the hand that wasn't pressed to her wounded shoulder, gasping in pain the entire time. Alex had begun to back slowly towards the jet to fetch Moira or Charles.

"No, no." The Shadow King warned, raising the gun to Marie's head again as he looked straight at Alex and flashed him a little smile. "You can't fool a telepath. All of you will stay exactly where you are. I will kill one—" He coughed. "Excuse m—" He broke off again coughing and gasping for air, looking confused. "Wh—" Then he caught sight of the way that Erik was watching him expectantly, and looked down at my wrist. One of Marie's gloves was missing and there were unnatural blue-grey veins all over her bare hand, with more just like them spreading over the point of contact. He fell to the ground as she continued to drain him. Her shoulder wasn't even bleeding. She stood and held up the bullet in her gloved hand, showing it to Farouk before she flung me backwards into the water forcing him to leave my body.

"Here he comes!" She warned.

"Everybody get to the jet!" Erik ordered urgently, while Marie watched the black cloud pouring out of me. Nobody argued, even Shaw's people were making a run for our stronghold. Marie took a few, hasty steps back away from our phantom attacker when he swooped towards her threateningly. As soon as he'd spiraled upward again she darted forward and grabbed me under the arms, dragging me out of the water towards the jet.

"Erik!" Marie shouted, seeing the ships turning their missiles on us. "We've gotta get out of here!"

Angel hesitated briefly then came up beside her and helped her drag me to our makeshift shelter. Marie turned to Azazel.

"How many can you transport at once?"

Azazel looked around, calculating the mass in his head. Riptide snorted in derision, grabbing Azazel's arm.

"And why on earth would we help you, Niña?" He asked rudely. Angel's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to argue but Marie beat her to it.

"I didn't ask _you_ for anythin', Janos. I was only askin' Azazel." She responded coolly. Riptide's eyes widened in surprise at hearing her use his birth name, then he began to step towards her menacingly. Azazel put a hand to his chest to stop him.

"I can transport half of the group at a time." He told Marie calmly. Erik eyed him appraisingly.

"Fine. Do it now." He ordered, gesturing toward Charles and Angel, who had a nasty burn on one wing. "Take the wounded first."

"Where?" Azazel inquired, ignoring Riptide's glare.

"Here." Marie answered, using my borrowed telepathy to project an image of the mansion into his mind. He nodded to her, taking Angel's hand. She wrapped her arm around my waist, eyeing Marie questioningly when she saw her release her hold on me.

"We must join hands." Azazel instructed. Raven grabbed his other hand while cradling Charles to her with her other arm, Hank carefully took hold of Charles wrist.

"If anything happens to them, I will kill you." Erik informed the teleporter, shifting his gaze to look Riptide directly in the eye. Azazel nodded curtly and we vanished in a puff of smoke. Erik bolted out of the jet and raised a hand, catching the oncoming missiles in midair. Alex and Moira watched him apprehensively, seeing the missiles hang in the air while he contemplated returning them to their senders.

"Erik!" Marie called, jogging towards him out of the jet. "Don't!" He looked over at her as she reached his side.

"They will come after us."

"I know… But they're never going to accept us if we don't give them the chance." Marie argued.

"You sound like Charles."

"Thank you." Marie replied, her eyes flicking back and forth between Erik's face and the hand he was focusing his magnetism with. "We're different, okay? We're somethin' brand new. They don't know anythin' about us yet. All they _do_ know is that we're dangerous, and so they fear us. What we do now is their introduction to our entire people; this is only goin' to reinforce that fear." Erik's hold faltered slightly at that.

"Marie…"

"Don't become _him_." She persisted, desperately. "This is how it starts, Erik! First, it's sendin' the missiles to destroy a fleet of human soldiers! Then it's bombs, and plots, and… and then one day you're gonna discover a runaway teenager with the ability to absorb other's mutations and you won't hesitate, because after everythin' that you've done, what's one girl's life if it means winnin' the war?" Marie stared earnestly into his eyes, ignoring the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You don't have to become that monster." She held out her hand showing him the bullet that he'd caught with his magnekinesis to protect her from the Shadow King. He took a deep breath, looking from the bullet to the missiles and back again, wrestling with himself. "Please, don't become him." Erik looked at Marie. She was staring at his face with a look of pure determination. She was also shaking from the stress of the confrontation. Erik swallowed and dropped his arm, letting the missiles fall into the sea. Marie let out a shaky breath and her shoulders sagged slightly as he took her hand still holding the bullet. She jumped when Azazel popped into existence beside them, her grip tightening on his hand ever so slightly. Azazel eyed her, giving her a wide berth, and grabbed Erik's shoulder, not wanting to frighten her any further. In one last puff of black and crimson smoke they were teleported away to the mansion.

* * *

><p>.<p>

**A/N:** Yeah... So I'm not 100% sure about this chapter. My beta liked it, but I'm not positive I did as well with SK's stuff as I could've. Hopefully, I'm just freaking myself out for no reason. Thanks for reading. Special thanks to Melkyre and Greeniron for reviewing. I'd love to hear what y'all think of this.


	24. FYI

NOTICE: For those of you that may wish to know, Volume two: '…And That's Where Things Get Complicated' is now up and running, with brand new chapters being published.


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